2017-2018 Royal Opera Season Premieres L’Ange de Nisida by Donizetti

Summary: The 2017-2018 Royal Opera season features the world premiere of L’Ange de Nisida by Gaetano Donizetti.

Lebanese-Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury sings the title role in Donizetti's love triangle centering on a Neapolitan king's mistress: Jamie Henderson @jsdhenderson via Twitter April 5, 2017

The 2017-2018 Royal Opera season includes the world premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida (The Angel of Nisida), in July 2018.

Italian composer Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848) opted for a French libretto for L’Ange de Nisida and for presentation in France because the topic of a Neapolitan king’s mistress could invite opposition from Italian censors.

French librettist and theatre manager Alphonse Royer (Sept. 10, 1803-April 11, 1875) collaborated with Belgian librettist, opera translator and playwright Jean-Nicolas-Gustave Van Nieuwen (Dec. 6, 1812-March 12, 1862), known as Gustave Vaëz, in writing the French libretto for L’Ange de Nisida. Royer and Vaëz had previously collaborated on Lucie de Lammermoor, the French version of Donizetti’s Italian drama tragico (tragic opera), Lucia di Lammermoor.

Donizetti marked the final page of the four-act opera semiseria (semi-serious opera) with the date of Dec. 27, 1839. On Jan. 5, 1840, he and his librettists signed a contract with Pierre-Paul-Jean-Ariste Anténor Joly (1799-Sept. 4, 1852) for rehearsals and performance of L’Ange de Nisida by Joly’s theatrical company, La Troupe du Théâtre de la Renaissance. The contract called for premiering Donizetti’s opera in Théâtre Ventadour, known as Salle Ventadour, located on the Seine’s Right Bank in Paris’ second arrondissement (2e arrondissement de Paris).

Unfortunately, the forced closure of Joly’s Théâtre de la Renaissance in February 1840 precluded the realization of a world premiere for L’Ange de Nisida. Joly’s theatrical endeavor caved as a result of continual litigious opposition from Académie Royale de Musique Théâtre Royal de l’Opéra Comique concerning the type of repertory allowed by Théâtre de la Renaissance’s license.

Donizetti reworked L’Ange de Nisida into a French setting and with a French libretto by L’Ange de Nisida’s librettists. The reworked opera, entitled La Favorite, premiered Dec. 2, 1840, at Salle Le Peletier, home of Académie Royale de Musique, France’s primary opera company and also one of Théâtre de la Renaissance’s two major opponents.

The Royal Opera House’s world premiere of L’Ange de Nisida takes place 178 years after Donizetti’s hoped for, yet unrealized, 1840 world premiere.

Mark Elder conducts The Royal Opera House’s performances. The English conductor debuted in The Royal Opera’s 1976 staging of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Joyce El-Khoury plays Sylvia de Linares, mistress of King Fernand of Naples and beloved of Leone de Casaldi, an exiled soldier. The Lebanese-Canadian soprano debuted during The Royal Opera’s 2016-2017 season as Violetta in La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

David Junghoon Kim appears as Leone de Casaldi, whose love for King Fernand’s mistress has tragic consequences. The Korean tenor has been a member of The Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artists Program since the start of the 2015-2016 season.

Ludovic Tézier appears as King Fernand of Naples. The French baritone debuted at The Royal Opera in 2004 as Albert in Werther by Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912).

Laurent Naouri appears as Don Gaspar, Chamberlain to King Fernand. The French bass-baritone appeared as Escamillo in The Royal Opera’s 2006 staging of Carmen by Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Evgeny Stavinsky appears as the Monk who threatens King Fernand with Sylvia’s banishment by Papal bull if she continues to be his mistress. The Russian bass makes his Royal Opera debut in 2018’s performances of L’Ange de Nisida.

The much anticipated world premiere of Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida is sung in French. The performance is timed to last about three hours. The performance includes one intermission, known as “interval” in the United Kingdom.

Online database Operabase places Gaetano Donizetti at number 6 in a ranking of 1,281 most popular composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/16.

The long overdue world premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida during the 2017-2018 Royal Opera season gives importance to forgotten operas by major composers and shows that world premieres have value, even 170 years after the composer’s death.

Gaetano Donizetti's L'Ange de Nisida references Sylvia de Linares, King Fernand of Naples' mistress who is kept on the volcanic islet of Nisida off the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples; Nisida, viewed from Posillipo, a residential quarter of Naples, southwestern Italy: Nimn at Italian Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Lebanese-Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury sings the title role in Donizetti's love triangle centering on a Neapolitan king's mistress: Jamie Henderson @jsdhenderson via Twitter tweet of April 5, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/jsdhenderson/status/849567302039347200

Gaetano Donizetti's L'Ange de Nisida references Sylvia de Linares, King Fernand of Naples' mistress who is kept on the volcanic islet of Nisida off the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples; Nisida, viewed from Posillipo, a residential quarter of Naples, southwestern Italy: Nimn at Italian Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NisidaSeenFromPosillipo.jpg

For further information:

“Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16.” Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/

Everist, Mark. “Theatres of Litigation: Stage Music at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, 1838-1840.” Cambridge Opera Journal, vol. 16, issue 2 (July 2004): 133-161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S095458670400182X
Available via Cambridge Opera Journal @ https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-opera-journal/article/theatres-of-litigation-stage-music-at-the-theatre-de-la-renaissance-18381840/86E50CDB9EA4F82D56D9F47DB4823033
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/3878264?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Jamie Henderson @jsdhenderson. “L’Ange de Nisida in concert -- Royal Opera House.” Twitter. April 5, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/jsdhenderson/status/849567302039347200

Marriner, Derdriu. "2017-2018 Royal Opera Season Premieres George Benjamin’s Third Opera." Earth and Space News. Monday, Aug. 7, 2017
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/08/2017-2018-royal-opera-season-premieres_7.html

Musical America @MusicalAmerica. “@RoyalOperaHouse in 2017-18: Four World Premieres Including George Benjamin’s Newest.” Twitter. April 7, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MusicalAmerica/status/850350778485178374

Royal Opera House. “Royal Opera House 2017/18 Season Trailer.” YouTube. April 5, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNXuUdDn8xI

Spencer, Mel. “Royal Opera House 2017/18 Season Announced.” Royal Opera House > News. April 5, 2017.
Available @ http://www.roh.org.uk/news/royal-opera-house-2017-2018-season-announced