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La favorite

La favorite (The Favourite, sometimes referred to by its Italian title: La favorita) is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud with additions by Eugène Scribe based on the story of Leonora de Guzman.[1] The opera concerns the romantic struggles of the King of Castile, Alfonso XI, and his mistress, the "favourite" Leonora, against the backdrop of the political wiles of receding Moorish Spain and the life of the Catholic Church. It premiered on 2 December 1840 at the Académie Royale de Musique (Salle Le Peletier) in Paris.

"La favorita" redirects here. For the 1952 Italian anthology film, see La Favorita (film).

La favorite

French, Italian

Le comte de Comminges
by Baculard d'Arnaud

2 December 1840 (1840-12-02)

Background[edit]

Originally, Donizetti had been composing an opera by the name of Le Duc d'Albe as his second work for the Opéra in Paris. However, the director, Léon Pillet, objected to an opera without a prominent role for his mistress, mezzo-soprano Rosine Stoltz. Donizetti therefore abandoned Le Duc d'Albe and borrowed heavily from L'Ange de Nisida, an unrealized project from 1839, to create La favorite.[2]


Donizetti wrote the entire final act in three to four hours, with the exception of the cavatina and a part of a duet, which were added at the rehearsal stage.[3]

Performance history[edit]

The Opéra's original production (Paris, 1840) had costumes designed by Paul Lormier and sets produced by two teams of scenic artists: René-Humanité Philastre and Charles-Antoine Cambon (acts 1 and 3), Charles Séchan, Léon Feuchère, Jules Diéterle and Édouard Desplechin (acts 2 and 4). Revivals at the Palais Garnier, on 25 January 1875 and 3 February 1896, increased the scale of the staging but remained true to the original concept of 1840. The opera continued to be performed each season at the Opéra up to 1894, remaining in its repertoire until 1918, as well as maintaining a presence in the French provinces through this period.[4]


It was revived for an Italian premiere in Padua under the title of Leonora di Guzman in 1842 with baritone Achille De Bassini in the role of Alfonso,[5] and at La Scala as Elda in 1843 with Marietta Alboni in the title role, though Donizetti himself was not involved in these productions.[4]


The London premiere was in English at Drury Lane in 1843 with soprano Emma Romer,[6] and then in French two years later at Covent Garden, and in Italian at Her Majesty's in 1847. New Orleans' Théâtre d'Orléans first saw the piece on 9 February 1843 in French (followed by a performance in New York by the New Orleans French Opera Company), and the Metropolitan Opera mounted a production 1895.[7] Italian revivals in the mid-20th century took place at La Scala Milan in 1934 with Ebe Stignani and Pertile, in Rome a year later with Cobelli and Gigli, followed by further revivals in both cities, several featuring Stignani in the title role.[7] Arturo Toscanini conducted the work in Bergamo for the Donizetti centenary.[8] In 1978, the Metropolitan Opera revived La Favorite (in Italian) with Luciano Pavarotti and Shirley Verrett; the opera had not been heard at the Met since Enrico Caruso sang it there in 1905, 73 years previously.[4][9]


Among other performances, the Bavarian State Opera presented a new production of the work in the original French version in 2016, with Elīna Garanča, tenor Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecień in the leading roles.[10]

Arrangements[edit]

In 1840, Richard Wagner made arrangements of the work for piano, for flute, and for a violin duo.[3]


Antonio Pasculli composed a concerto on themes from the opera for oboe and piano/orchestra (c. 1879).

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

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

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.

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 Tyrell (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

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

Weinstock, Herbert

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

La favorite

Donizetti Society (London) website

(French)

Libretto in Stanford University's OperaGlass

(French)

Libretto

Vocal score with Italian text

on YouTube, Katherine Ciesinski

"O mon Fernand"