Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Umberto Giordano
Gioachino Rossini
Francesco Cilea
Richard Wagner
Richard Strauss
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Georges Bizet
Gioacchino Rossini
Alexander Ostrovsky, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
César Cui. Igor Stravinsky
Richard Strauss
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dimitry Rostovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Andrei Rubtsov
Hector Berlioz
Gaetano Donizetti
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Modest Mussorgsky
Sergei Prokofiev. Maurice Ravel
Alexei Verstovsky
Giuseppe Verdi
Anton Rubinstein
Benjamin Britten. Camille Saint-Saëns
Mieczysław Weinberg
Sergei Banevich
Modest Mussorgsky
Grigory Frid. Udo Zimmermann
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Georg Philipp Telemann
Sergei Prokofiev
Giacomo Puccini
Dmitry Shostakovich
Tatiana Kamysheva
Georges Bizet
Giacomo Puccini
Jacques Offenbach
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Dmitry Shostakovich
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Giuseppe Verdi
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
In 1857 Giuseppe Verdi received a proposal from the Theatre of San Carlo in Naples. The composer longed to create an opera based on Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear. However, the theatre could not invite the singers who, according to Verdi, would be able to realise his conception. So, Un Ballo in Maschera was a compromise. An effective plot about the murder of Swedish King Gustave III had already been tested with the audience: in 1833 Daniel Auber created an opera from the libretto by Eugène Scribe, a French dramaturg, which was based on the same story. The cast also was suitable for a typical troupe of an Italian opera theatre.
The story has all the necessary qualities to compel public attention. There is a twisting plot that draws a love triangular into a political conspiracy. It has colourful characters, strong passions, tense situations and impressive stage effects like a witchcraft scene, a love duet in the night field, where the executions take place, or a murder against a masquerade background. “A brilliant drama that totally fits into the morals of our time” as Giuseppe Verdi said of it himself.
Premiered on April 20, 2018.
Presented with two intervals.
Libretto by Antonio Somma based on the text by Augustin Eugène Scribe
with the technical support in graphic and production design of GIÒ FORMA
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Friday, 19:00
Thursday, 19:00
Wednesday, 19:00
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Friday, 19:00
Thursday, 19:00
Wednesday, 19:00
Act I
Richard, Count of Warwick, English governor of Massachusetts, receives visitors in his residence. Among his court officials who praise their governor are Samuel and Tom who connive to murder Richard. Oscar, the page, brings Richard a list of invitations to a ball; it includes the name of Amelia, whom Richard is secretly in love with despite her being married to his friend and secretary, Renato.
When petitioners leave, Renato comes and warns Richard of a plot against him. He wants Richard to be cautious, but the Count refuses to arrest the conspirators or even to learn their names. The Supreme Judge comes with a proposal to expel Ulrica the fortuneteller. Oscar makes a passionate speech in her defense, and Richard decides to visit Ulrica himself. He invites his court to join him and have fun in disguise.