Metropolitan Opera broadcasts continue on Classical 90.5 at 11:00 a.m. this Saturday, January 9, with a performance of Anna Bolena by Gaetano Donizetti. The libretto is by Felice Romani, based on Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli's Anna Bolena. The performance will be sung in Italian and will run approximately three hours and thirty-five minutes. Marco Armiliato conducts.
The first of Donizetti’s operas to achieve wide success, Anna Bolena is based on the historical episode of the fall and death of England’s Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. While many operas use history as a point of departure for storytelling, Anna Bolena stays closer to real events than most.
The trial of Anne Boleyn took place on May 15, 1536, and her execution followed four days later. The opera’s first act is set during the weeks leading up to the trial, in Greenwich Castle near London. Act II takes place at the Tower of London, between trial and execution.
One of the most striking characteristics of all of Donizetti’s works is the power and abundance of melody that, in context, reveals a deeper dramatic purpose. Nowhere in Anna Bolena is this combination more apparent than in the final scene. As Anne awaits her execution, she goes through a variety of emotions and mental conditions, including terror, illusory calm, and confusion bordering on hallucination—all leading to a final climactic outburst that is a masterpiece of musical insight and a superb example of opera’s ability to explore the human dimensions behind history.
THE CAST
Anna Bolena: Sondra Radvanovsky
Giovanna Seymour: Jamie Barton
Smeton: Tamara Mumford
Lord Riccardo Percy: Stephen Costello
Enrico VIII: Ildar Abdrazakov
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