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Dom Sébastien

Dom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal (Don Sebastian, King of Portugal) is a French grand opera in five acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe, based on Paul Foucher's play Don Sébastien de Portugal which premiered at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin on 9 November 1838[1] It is a historic-fiction about King Sebastian of Portugal (1554–1578) and his ill-fated 1578 expedition to Morocco. The opera premiered on 13 November 1843 at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra. This was the last opera that Donizetti completed before going insane as a result of syphilis.

Dom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal

Eugène Scribe

French

Paul Foucher's Don Sébastien de Portugal

9 November 1843 (1843-11-09)
Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, Paris

At the time, Donizetti was attempting to compose an opera competitive with similar historical operas by Daniel Auber, Fromental Halévy and Giacomo Meyerbeer. One critical description of the nature of Dom Sébastien is "a funeral in five acts".[2] By contrast, Winton Dean has described the main characteristic of the opera as "uncompromising dramatic honesty" in his comments on unusual dramatic facets of the work.[3] Mary Ann Smart has prepared a critical edition of the opera in French, which includes appendices with variants and additions that Donizetti made for a production in German at the Vienna Hofoper in 1845.[4]

Allitt, John Stewart (1991), Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr, Shaftesbury: Element Books, Ltd (UK); Rockport, MA: Element, Inc.(USA)

(1982), Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23526-X

Ashbrook, William

(1998), "Donizetti, Gaetano" in Stanley Sadie (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. One. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5

Ashbrook, William

Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-14-029312-4. pp. 224–247.

Holden, Amanda

Black, John (1982), Donizetti's Operas in Naples, 1822—1848. London: The Donizetti Society.

Donizetti, Gaetano; Smart, Mary Ann, editor. (2005). Dom Sébastien, Rei de Portugal. Opéra in five acts by Eugéne Scribe (reduction for voice and piano based on the critical edition of the orchestral score). Milan: Ricordi.  978-88-7592-751-6.

ISBN

Foucher, Paul (1838), Paris: J. N. Barba; Delloye; Bezou.

View Don Sébastien de Portugal

Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). Annals of Opera, 1597–1940, 2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield

(1994). The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-71-3.

Osborne, Charles

(Ed.); John Tyrrell (Exec. Ed.) (2004), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-19-517067-2 (hardcover). ISBN 0-19-517067-9 OCLC 419285866 (eBook).

Sadie, Stanley

Smart, Mary Ann (Ed.), Gaetano Donizetti (2004), , The Critical Edition of the Operas of Gaetano Donizetti. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

"Dom Sebastien, rei de Portugal: Opera in Five Acts by Eugène Scribe"

Weinstock, Herbert (1963), Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Pantheon Books.  63-13703

LCCN

Notes


Sources

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Dom Sébastien

Donizetti Society (London) website

at the Wayback Machine (archived May 2, 2008)

French Libretto

at the Wayback Machine (archived May 2, 2008)

Italian Libretto

Parker, Roger, , lecture on Dom Sébastien at Gresham College, 16 April 2007 (available for download as video or audio files)

"Donizetti and Paris"