LUCIE DE LAMMERMOOR

Lucia began her cavatina in G major in great style; she sang her plaint of love, she cried aloud for wings. Emma too would have liked to flee from life, to be borne away in love’s embrace.

Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary (1859)

Like Rossini, Donizetti had an important career in Paris, where he created or adapted some of his masterpieces but also where he was committed when episodes of dementia caused by syphilis became more acute. For Donizetti died insane, as did many of his heroines, starting with the most famous of them: Lucia di Lammermoor, who, having been forced into marriage, kills her husband on her wedding night and reappears before the guests in her blood-stained dress – the most famous mad scene in the history of opera. The work, based on Walter Scott’s novel, had its triumphant premiere in Naples in 1835 and was adapted to French standards in 1839, with some significant changes. Twenty years after giving a memorable performance of this rare version, the musical forces of the Opéra de Lyon are joined by the finest of the new singing generation under the direction of Daniele Rustioni: Florian Sempey and Nicolas Courjal. Lisette Oropesa, today’s best performer of the role of Lucia, makes both her debut in this French version and at the Festival.