Emilia di Liverpool is a dramma semiseria, ("half-serious") dramatic opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, in two acts with music by Gaetano Donizetti

Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...

. Giuseppe Ceccherini wrote the Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 after the anonymous libretto for Vittorio Trento's Emilia di Laverpaut, itself based on Stefano Scatizzi's play of the same name. It premiered on July 28, 1824 at the Teatro Nuovo, Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

.

The libretto has a complex history. The original story by Scatizzi formed the original basis of the first, anonymous libretto of 1824, which had the title of Emilia di Liverpool. This first libretto included the introduction of the Count, a Neapolitan character, as comic relief per the theatrical tradition of the Teatro Nuovo. The changes to the cast of characters caused confusion among the relationships of the characters and ran contrary to the structure of the original play. The libretto revisions by Ceccherini, circa 1828, removed much of the material of the 1824 version, with further revisions to the characters, but maintaining the plot chronology of the 1824 version. The 1828 revision, known as L'Eremitaggio di Liverpool (The Hermitage of Liverpool), also reduced the amount of spoken dialogue.

Performance history

The 1828 version was given its premiere in Naples on 8 March 1828 and received only six performances. The 1824 version "was revived in 1838 for three performances, and again in 1871". It was not until 1957 that it received another presentation of any kind, until its UK premiere on 12 June in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

. In September 1957 the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 presented an abridged radio version which starred the young Joan Sutherland

Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....

,"who gave a stunning exhibition of her Donizetti style a good eighteen months before her Covent Garden

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

 success in Lucia di Lammermoor

Lucia di Lammermoor

Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 28 July 1824 (Conductor: - )
Emilia	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Teresa Melas
Claudio di Liverpool, her father	bass	Giuseppe Fioravanti Giuseppe Fioravanti Giuseppe Fioravanti was an Italian opera singer active during the first half of the 19th century. Although one of the most important and popular basso buffos of his generation, there is only a relatively small amount of information available about his life...
Federico	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Domenico Zilioli
Dom Romualdo		Carlo Casaccia
Candida, his daughter	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Francesca Ceccherini
Luigia	soprano
Il conte	bass
Villains

Synopsis

Time: The past

Place: A village near Liverpool

Prior to the beginning of the opera, Emilia, has been seduced and abandoned by Federico. Daughter of Claudio, the Count of Liverpool, she goes to a nearby hermitage while her father goes off in pursuit of the seducer and hr mother dies.

Many years later, when the action of the opera begins, Emilia's charitable work is disturbed by the arrival of two strangers who have been stranded on the roadway. One is Federico, now repentant; the other is Claudio who had been captured by Barbary pirates and imprisoned for many years. The two men begin to fight a duel but are stopped by Emilia who is able to prevent them from firing any shots and announces that she believes that Federico is reformed, that they are in love, and that they plan to marry. Everyone rejoices.

Recordings

Year	Cast: (Emilia, Candida, Luigia, Don Romualdo, Claudio di Liverpool, Federico)	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1986	Yvonne Kenny Yvonne Kenny Yvonne Kenny AM is an Australian soprano, particularly associated with Handel and Mozart roles.Born in Sydney, she first studied at the University of Sydney in science, hoping to become a biochemist, but decided to pursue a career in music instead... , Anne Mason, Bronwen Mills, Sesto Bruscantini, Geoffrey Dolton, Chris Merritt Chris Merritt Chris Merritt is an opera singer. He studied piano, singing, dance and drama at Oklahoma City University where he made his first stage appearance in Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann in a university production. At age 21, he was accepted into the summer season Apprentice Program for...	David Parry David Parry (conductor) David Parry is an English conductor who is particularly known for his work within the field of opera. Described as "a man of the theatre with whom directors love to work; he is good with singers; he knows the British opera world like the back of his hand... , Philharmonia Orchestra and Geoffrey Mitchell Choir	Audio CD: Opera Rara Cat: OR 8