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Gaetano Donizetti's Caterina Cornaro Performed in Germany

Jun. 25, 2022

OnJune 11, the Klangvokal Musikfestival presented Gaetano Donizetti's Caterina Cornaro in the Konzerthaus Dortmund with hand-picked vocal soloists and the Rundfunkchor and Funkhausorchester conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti. The Stadttheater Gießen will present Caterina Cornaro on November 27 as the first staged performance in German-speaking countries, directed by Anna Drescher and conducted by Vladimir Yaskorski.

The tragedia lirica Caterina Cornaro by Gaetano Donizetti was performed for the first time on January 18, 1844 in the Teatro San Carlo, Naples. More than 170 years later, it was published by Bärenreiter for the first time in an authoritative edition.

The premiere of Donizetti's Caterina Cornaro was not a success. Owing to bad health, Donizetti was not able to travel to Naples and produce the opera, as was common practice. Instead he recommended asking Saverio Mercadante “if any difficulties were to arise during rehearsals, if something were not well orchestrated, or were too weak, or too loud, to help me as if it were his own music”. Despite his trouble, the opening night was a failure: only three items from the entire score were applauded. A newspaper stated that “Donizetti had neglected the composition, had filled his score with reminiscences, had tossed off an inferior work, […] that the work was not his at all”. The fiasco led to Donizetti’s decision not to compose for Naples any more. But, not having lost faith in his opera, he decided to revise some items for a revival in Parma in February 1845, with his much-preferred baritone Felice Varese. Ill and overworked, Donizetti’s modifications were not as extensive as he intended. He did, however, work out one important revision for the opera’s finale: he replaced Caterina’s cabaletta (which had received no applause in Naples) with a dying scene for Lusignano. It is possible, however, that this revision reached the theatre too late, and that it was not performed.

The new critical edition by Bärenreiter-Verlag is the first modern edition of this opera. It presents the work as it was premiered in Naples, and indicates, where possible, the revisions made for Parma. Its whereabouts long unknown, the alternative finale is given in an appendix, making it widely available for the very first time. The edition is accompanied by an extensive critical commentary which explains and clarifies the different layers in the compositional process as much as possible.

To learn more about this new critical edition of Gaetano Donizetti's Caterina Cornaro, edited by Hans Schellevis here.

Gaetano Donizetti
Caterina Cornaro
Tragedia lirica in a prologue and two acts. Libretto: Giacomo Saccero. Edited by Hans Schellevis
Scoring: Caterina Cornaro (soprano), Andrea Cornaro (bass), Lusignan (baritone), Gerardo (tenor), Moncenigo (bass), Strozzi (tenor), Matilde (soprano) – SATB chorus
Orchestra: 2 Fl (2. Ott), 2 Ob, 2 Cl, 2 Fg, 4 cor, 2 Tr, 3 Trb, Cim, Timp, Perc, Arpa, Banda (integrated in the orchestra)
Publisher: Bärenreiter. BA 8747

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