Donizetti: Il diluvio universale (2006)

In order to circumvent the ban on operatic performances during Lent in Naples, Donizetti designated Il diluvio universale as an azione tragico-sacra, but for all intents and purposes, it is an opera, albeit one on a religious topic. Based on the Biblical story of Noah and the flood, it includes a side plot concerning the conflict of the wife of the Chief Satrap, torn between faith in God and devotion to her idol-worshipping husband. The 1830 premiere was something of a fiasco because of glaring errors in the performance ... Read More

In order to circumvent the ban on operatic performances during Lent in Naples, Donizetti designated Il diluvio universale as an azione tragico-sacra, but for all intents and purposes, it is an opera, albeit one on a religious topic. Based on the Biblical story of Noah and the flood, it includes a side plot concerning the conflict of the wife of the Chief Satrap, torn between faith in God and devotion to her idol-worshipping husband. The 1830 premiere was something of a fiasco because of glaring errors in the performance of the music and the failure of the stage machinery to produce the requisite flood on cue. In spite of those malfunctions, critics were favorable to the music, but the opera received only three productions in the nineteenth century.The opera's obscurity is not entirely difficult to understand, even though it has many of the attributes of Donizetti's better-known operas -- show-stoppingly flashy arias, ensembles of considerable musical and dramatic complexity, and a fine sense of... Read Less

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2006, Opera Rara UPC: 792938003122 CD See All