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"O Mio Fernando"

About the Composer

Gaetano Donizetti

by The Lieder Lady

 

 

Verdi was not the only Italian opera to be commissioned by the Paris Opera. Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, the composers most associated with Bel Canto singing in the early 19th century, also had connections to France. Donizetti had originally written Le Duc d’Albe for his second Paris opera, but the opera director insisted his mistress, the mezzo-soprano Rosine Stoltz. Donizetti then re-wrote an earlier opera and La Favorite premiered in December 1940. The Italian premiere took place in 1842, and although it remained in the Paris repertoire until the late 1800’s, it’s the Italian which has been performed most frequently. Interest in the original French version has been sparked by the bicentennial of Donizetti’s birth in 1997. “The favorite” we soon discover is the favorite mistress of King Alfonso XI of Castile, Leonora di Gusmann. Ferdinand, a novice in the Monastery of St. James Copostella, has fallen in love with Leonora. Unaware of her dubious position, he renounces his vows She is smitten by him too, but tells him their love can only end in despair. Ferdinand joins the army which is currently battling the Moors in Spain, in the hope that, if he becomes a hero, she will marry him. When he returns, the King, (who has lost favor with the Pope because of his affair), consents to the union. Leonora expresses her conflicting feelings in “O mio Fernando”. When Ferdinand learns the truth he returns to the monastery and renews his vows.

 

 

 

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