Gaetano Donizetti
Maria Stuarda
Dec 6 – Dec 22
Price includes $10.00 fee
On the heels of her triumphant portrayal in the recent new production of Bellini’s I Puritani, Lisette Oropesa climbs another peak of the bel canto soprano repertoire, the doomed Scottish queen at the heart of Donizetti’s charged historical drama. Soprano Angela Meade is Elisabetta, the English monarch out for blood, with tenor René Barbera as Leicester, the nobleman they both love. Maestro Enrique Mazzola takes the podium for David McVicar’s striking production.
Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund
Revival a gift of Barbara Augusta Teichert
This revival is part of the Met’s new In the Classic Style Fund with special thanks to C. Graham Berwind, III and the donors who have supported this initiative
Sung In
Italian
Met Titles In
- English
- German
- Spanish
- Italian
Estimated Run Time
2 hrs 55 mins
House Opens
Act I
75 mins
Intermission
35 mins
Act II
65 mins
Opera Ends
World premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1835. A searingly dramatic setting of Friedrich Schiller’s play about Mary, Queen of Scots, and her political and personal rivalry with Queen Elizabeth I of England, Maria Stuarda had a troubled genesis, despite its musical and theatrical brilliance, and only recently achieved a place in the repertory. These two fearsome rivals embody different perceptions of royalty, which were very much in direct conflict at that moment in time, and the opera’s drama is true to history in a way the facts are not.
Creators
Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) composed more than 60 operas, plus orchestral and chamber music, in a career abbreviated by mental illness and premature death. Giuseppe Bardari (1817–61) was only 17 when his reputation as a brilliant student led Donizetti to entrust him with the creation of the libretto for Maria Stuarda, adapted from a play by the great German author and philosopher Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), a hugely influential figure in literature and beyond.
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composer
Gaetano Donizetti
Production
David McVicar
SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER
John Macfarlane
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Jennifer Tipton
CHOREOGRAPHER
Leah Hausman
C. Graham Berwind, III Chorus Director
Tilman Michael
Setting
The opera takes place in the late 16th century at the court of Queen Elizabeth I in London and at Fotheringhay Castle in central England, Mary’s final place of confinement. At the time of her death in 1587, she had been imprisoned by Elizabeth for more than 18 years.
Music
For all the beauty of its orchestral writing, Maria Stuarda is a prime example of the mid–19th-century bel canto style—the drama is firmly embedded in the vocal parts. A notable curiosity of the score is the wide range of casting possibilities for the two leading ladies: either role can be (and has been) sung by a soprano or a mezzo-soprano. Much depends on the contrast of the voices, especially in the great confrontation scene at the end of Act I.
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