Gianni di Calais is a melodramma

Melodramma

Melodramma is an Italian term for opera, used in a much narrower sense by English writers to discuss developments in the early 19th century Italian libretto...

 semiserio, a "semi-serious" 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 three acts 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...

 (1828), from a 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...

 by Domenico Gilardoni, based on Jean de Paris by Louis-Charles Caignes.

It was first performed on 2nd August 1828 at the Teatro del Fondo

Teatro del Fondo

The Teatro del Fondo is a theatre in Naples, now known as the Teatro Mercadante. Together with the Teatro San Carlo, it was originally one of the two royal opera houses of the 18th and 19th-century city....

, 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...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 2 August 1828 (Conductor: - )
Metilde, Gianni's wife	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...	Adelaide Comelli Rubini
Gianni da Calais, shipowner	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...	Giovanni Battista Rubini Giovanni Battista Rubini Giovanni Battista Rubini was an Italian tenor, as famous in his time as Enrico Caruso in a later day. His ringing and expressive coloratura dexterity in the highest register of his voice, the tenorino, inspired the writing of operatic roles which today are almost impossible to cast...
Rustano, head of Gianni's sailors	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Antonio Tamburini Antonio Tamburini Antonio Tamburini was an Italian operatic baritone.Born in Faenza, then part of the Papal States, Tamburini studied the orchestral horn with his father and voice with Aldobrando Rossi, before making his debut as a singer, aged 18, in La contessa di colle erbose . He went on to become one of the...
The king, Metilde's father	bass	Michele Benedetti Michele Benedetti Michele Benedetti was an Italian bass particularly associated with Rossini roles.-Career:...
Arrigo, page of the duchess	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Edvige Ricci
Rogiero	tenor	Filippo Tati
Guido	bass	Giovanni Pace
Corrado, Rogiero's friend	tenor	Gaetano Chizzola
An official	tenor	Capranica
Adelina, duchess and friend of Metilde	soprano
Ermanno, young son of Gianni	silent
Sailors, bridesmaids, people

Synopsis

Place: Portugal.

Time: "The past"

The Duchess Adelina meets a masked woman with a child on the beach at night; the stranger turns out to be her friend Matilde, the king's daughter, fleeing to avoid marrying Rogiero; during her flight she was in danger of falling into pirates' captivity if had not been rescued by the ship-owner Gianni di Calais, who later became her husband. No one knows that the woman is the king's daughter except Gianni's faithful friend, Rustano. Gianni arrives and the sails of his ship show the images of his wife and son. This means that he's being called to court by the king to search for his daughter: it is here that Gianni realizes the identity of his wife. Matilde appears exactly then and, when the furious Rogiero sees her, he meditates a revenge. He kidnaps Gianni's and Matilde's son, but the boy is immediately rescued by Rustano. The king punishes Rogier, and Gianni can hug his wife.