ORC48 Box cover and CD faces : Portrait of Caterina Cornaro (1454 –1510) dressed as St Catherine of Alexandria c.1542 (oil on canvas) by Titian (c.1588 –1576). Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy/ The Bridgeman Art Library Book cover : Caterina Cornaro by Hans Makart (1840 –1884). © Belvedere, Vienna Opposite : Gaetano Donizetti (Opera Rara Archive) –1– Gaetano Donizetti CATERINA CORNARO Tragedia lirica in a prologue and two acts Libretto by Giacomo Sacchèro Caterina Cornaro............................................................Carmen Giannattasio Andrea Cornaro, Caterina’s father ..........................................Graeme Broadbent Gerardo, a young Frenchman ( in the prologue bethrothed to Caterina ).....................................................................Colin Lee Lusignano, King of Cyprus ..................................................................Troy Cook Mocenigo, a counsellor of the Dieci in Venice and Venetian ambassador in Cyprus .................................................................Vuyani Mlinde Strozzi, a leader of mercenary cut-throats ...............................................Loïc Félix A Knight of the King...........................................................................Loïc Félix Matilde, Caterina’s confidante .........................................................Sophie Bevan Knights, Ladies, Gondoliers, Populace, Soldiers, Cut-throat ruffians, Guards BBC Singers Renato Balsadonna, chorus director BBC Symphony Orchestra Stephen Bryant, leader David Parry, conductor –2– Producer: Michael Haas Managing Director: Stephen Revell Assistant conductor: Robin Newton Répétiteur: Nicholas Bosworth Italian coach: Maria Cleva Studio production assistant: Jim Barne Article, synopsis and libretto translation: Jeremy Commons Scores and orchestra parts created by Hans Schellevis The materials were hired from NTR Radio Organization, Netherlands Recording engineers: Simon Hancock and Chris Rouse Editing: Michael Haas and Simon Hancock Recorded at BBC Maida Vale Studios, London November/December 2011 Produced in association with BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Symphony Orchestra –3– This recording has been made possible with generous support from the following individuals and Foundation: Jon Aisbitt Dr Michael Peagram Sir David Bean Hilary Puxley Dr Angus Blair Stefan Olsson Michael Conroy Faanya Rose Matthew Curtis Jeremy Roberts Marianne Falk Imogen Rumbold Bamber and Christina Gascoigne Lucie Sims Lady Hunt John Singer Glenn Hurstfield Charles and Caroline Skinner Alan Michael Jackson Martin and Patricia Sprio Virginia Lawlor Suzanne Freda Stewart Leventis Foundation Robert Taylor Dick Liberty Andrew D Walker Phornphimol Littleton Simon Weil Dr JDA MacGinnis The Zochonis Charitable Trust Ingeborg Marguiles Stratton Mills –4– CONTENTS Caterina Cornaro by Jeremy Commons.................................................Page 10 Performance History.............................................................................Page 46 The Story..............................................................................................Page 47 Argument.............................................................................................Page 52 Die Handlung.......................................................................................Page 57 La trama...............................................................................................Page 63 Libretto.................................................................................................Page 70 –5– CD1 61’36 PROLOGUE Duration Page [1] Preludio 1’32 70 Introduzione – Caterina, Matilde, Gerardo, Mocenigo, Andrea, Dame, Cavalieri [2] ‘Salve, o beati, al giubilo’ 1’51 70 [3] ‘Tu l’amor mio, tu l’iride’ 4’55 71 [4] ‘Dell’empia Cipro il popolo’ 3’49 75 [5] ‘Parta pur, ma vendicato sarà’ 2’14 77 Coro dei Gondolieri [6] ‘Or che l’astro in mar si cela’ 1’25 79 Recitativo dopo il Coro dei Gondolieri – Caterina, Matilde [7] ‘Torna all’ospite tetto’ 2’16 79 Romanza Caterina [8] ‘Vieni o tu, che ognora io chiamo’ 3’04 83 [9] ‘Deh! vieni, t’affretta’ 3’14 83 Scena – Caterina, Andrea, Mocenigo e Gerardo – e Duetto Caterina e Gerardo [10] ‘Ahi – qui ancor, padre mio?’ 4’29 84 [11] ‘Spera in me, della tua vita’ 4’37 89 [12] ‘Va, crudel; maledetto quel giorno’ 3’01 93 –6– Duration Page ACT ONE Aria Mocenigo – Strozzi, Mocenigo [13] ‘Sei bella, o Cipro!’ 3’28 94 [14] ‘Credi che dorma, o incauto’ 1’16 97 Recitativo dopo l’aria di Mocenigo – Un Cavaliere, Lusignano [15] ‘Lasciami, o cavalier’ 0’58 97 Aria – Lusignano [16] ‘Da che [a] sposa Caterina’ 3’45 98 Coro degli Sgherri – Strozzi, Sgherri [17] ‘Core, e pugnale!’ 3’27 99 Scena dopo il Coro – Strozzi, Gerardo, Lusignano, Sgherri [18] ‘Mano a’ pugnali!’ 2’43 101 Duetto – Gerardo e Lusignano [19] ‘Parla, ardisci: io son quel desso’ 1’14 105 [20] ‘Vedi, io piango!’ 3’14 105 [21] ‘Che qui non batte un core ingrato’ 2’21 106 [22] ‘Sì, dall’ardir degl’empi/Dunque tu vuoi dividere’ 2’41 108 –7– CD2 54’24 Duration Page Finale dell’atto primo – Coro delle Donne – Caterina, Lusignano, Donne [1] ‘Gemmata il serto’ 4’12 110 [2] ‘Guarda, s’avanza il Re’ 1’41 110 Romanza Lusignano – Caterina, Gerardo, Strozzi, Lusignano [3] ‘Ah! non turbarti a questi accenti’ 3’01 112 [4] ‘O Re! Strozzi?’ 2’33 112 Duetto Caterina e Gerardo e Finale – Caterina, Gerardo, Mocenigo [5] ‘Da quel dì che lacerato’ 3’52 115 [6] ‘De me fosti ognor compianto, fratel mio’ 3’57 118 [7] ‘Parti’ 1’39 119 [8] ‘Indietro! Io, vil carnefice’ 2’49 121 [9] ‘Olà! Gran re, la collera vendicatrice è tarda’ 0’58 124 [10] ‘Va, fellon; di questa terra’ 2’23 125 ACT TWO Scena ed Aria Gerardo – Gerardo, un Cavaliere, Cavalieri [11] ‘Misera patria!’ 1’54 126 [12] ‘Io trar non voglio campi ed onori’ 2’26 127 [13] ‘Guerra! Guerra!’ 0’59 128 –8– Duration Page [14] ‘Morte, morte! Fur troppi gl’insulti’ 3’04 128 Finale dell’atto secondo – Caterina, Gerardo, Lusignano, Donne, Guerrieri, Popolo [15] ‘Oh ciel! che tumulto!’ 1’30 129 [16] ‘Dolorosa incertezza!’ 1’18 130 [17] ‘Pietà, Signor’ 3’08 130 [18] ‘Vittoria! Vittoria!’ 1’29 131 [19] ‘Orsù... della vittoria’ 2’32 132 [20] ‘Non più affanni’ 3’32 135 Finale dell’atto secondo, seconda versione – Caterina, Lusignano, Donne, Guerrieri, Popolo [21] ‘Vittoria! Vittoria!’ 2’34 136 [22] ‘Piangi, sì piangi, o misera’ 2’51 138 –9– CATERINA CORNARO THERE ARE some operas which excite and hold our interest before we have heard a note of their music. Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro is a case in point. The last of his operas produced during his lifetime, it arouses our sympathetic response on account of its history of interrupted composition – for the story of its ill-received first production (which the composer, exceptionally, was unable to attend and supervise), and for its vindication at its second production a few months later (which Donizetti was still sufficiently in charge of his faculties to appreciate, but which proved the only other production mounted during the 19th century). Like Maria Stuarda , this was an opera which one wished to hear from the moment one first read about it. For many of us, this meant that we were predisposed to take it to our hearts long before its first 20th century revival in 1972. And though even now it may not have achieved a degree of popularity comparable with that of Maria Stuarda , it is gradually and progressively building up for itself a faithful audience which fervently believes in its musical validity and dramatic effectiveness. Let us start with a word about Caterina Cornaro the historical figure, for she is of considerable fascination in her own right, and her true history is rather different from that which we are shown in the opera – more complex, and perhaps even more interesting. Born in Venice in 1454, she was the niece (in the opera, the daughter) of a nobleman, Andrea Cornaro, who was an intimate friend of James de Lusignan, an illegitimate but favourite son of King John II of Cyprus. When John II died in 1458, the succession to the Cypriot throne –10 – was disputed. James blockaded the true heiress, Charlotte, his half-sister and John’s legitimate daughter, in her castle of Kyrenia for several years. When eventually – in 1463 – she was forced to flee, sorely pressed, to Rome, James took possession of the island and was crowned king as James II. And since it was important that he secure his position by seeking powerful allies, Andrea Cornaro suggested that he marry his niece, Caterina, a union which, he suggested, would bring him the support of Venice. The contract was signed, by proxy where James was concerned, in 1468, when Caterina was only 14 years old. James, by contrast, would have been about 28. In view of Caterina’s youth, she did not sail for Cyprus until 1472 where, at the age of 18 and already celebrated for her beauty, she arrived to be heralded as Queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. Her marriage, however, proved short-lived, for the following year her husband died, ostensibly of fever, but very possibly poisoned by agents of Venice, since many influential noblemen of the Republic had designs to bring the island under Venetian rule. At the time she was widowed, Caterina was pregnant. The birth of her son, James III, in August 1473, coincided with a plot hatched in favour of Zarla, an illegitimate daughter of her deceased husband, and, since the Venetian fleet was temporarily absent and she had no protection against the insurgents, she found herself imprisoned. Order was restored upon the return of the Venetians, but was again