Il castello di Kenilworth (or Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth) 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...

 serio or tragic 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...

. Andrea Leone Tottola

Andrea Leone Tottola

Andrea Leone Tottola was a prolific Italian librettist, best known for his work with Gaetano Donizetti and Gioachino Rossini.It is not known when or where he was born...

 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 Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....

's play Amy Robsart (1828) and Eugene Scribe

Eugène Scribe

Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...

's play Leicester, in its turn after Scott's novel Kenilworth

Kenilworth (novel)

Kenilworth. A Romance is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, first published on 8 January 1821.-Plot introduction:Kenilworth is apparently set in 1575, and centers on the secret marriage of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Amy Robsart, daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart...

(1821). Daniel Auber

Daniel Auber

Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...

 composed another opera on the same subject, Leicester, ou Le château de Kenilworth (1823).

This opera represents Donizetti's first excursion into an aspect of English history

Elizabethan era

The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...

 and especially with the character of Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

, whose life he was to explore further in his operas Roberto Devereux

Roberto Devereux

Roberto Devereux is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti...

and Maria Stuarda

Maria Stuarda

Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, , in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart....

.

It received its first performance on the 6 July 1829 at the Teatro San Carlo, 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, 6 July 1829 (Conductor: Nicola Festa)
Elisabetta Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty... , Queen of England	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 Tosi Adelaide Tosi Adelaide Tosi was an Italian operatic soprano.Born in Milan, Tosi studied with Girolamo Crescentini before making her professional opera debut in her native city in 1821. She portrayed Azema in the premiere of Giacomo Meyerbeer's L'esule di Granata at La Scala on 12 March 1822...
Roberto Dudley Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death... , Earl of Leicester	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 David Giovanni David Giovanni David was an Italian tenor particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas....
Amelia Robsart, his secret consort	soprano	Luigia Boccabadati Luigia Boccabadati Luigia Boccabadati was an Italian operatic soprano.Born in Modena, Boccabadati made her professional opera debut at the Teatro Regio di Parma in 1817. She then appeared in opera houses in Venice and Rome. She performed the roles of Giulietta in Nicola Vaccai's Giulietta e Romeo and the title...
Warney	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...	Berardo Winter
Lambourne	bass	Gennaro Ambrosini
Fanny	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...	Virginia Eden
Knights of the queen, domestic servants of Leicester, guards, soldiers, people

Synopsis

Time: The reign of Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

Place: Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant...

It is announced that Queen Elizabeth is to visit Kenilworth, the Earl of Leicester's castle. Leicester is a favourite of the Queen, but now has a new bride, Amelia Robsart, with whom he is in love. Fearing the Queen's displeasure, he asks his servant Lambourne to arrange for Amelia to be hidden until Elizabeth departs. Amelia is taken to a small cell in the castle by Leicester's equerry, Warney. He then tries to seduce her and tells that she has been placed there because her husband no longer loves her. When Amelia rejects his advances, Warney vows revenge.

Amelia manages to escape from the cell and in a secret garden of the castle encounters the Queen. She tearfully tells the Queen about her troubles with Leicester, whom she believes has betrayed her. The Queen goes to Leicester and Warney angrily demanding an explanation. Leicester reveals his marriage with Amelia to the Queen who becomes even more angry and dismisses him.

Warney, still desiring revenge, tries to poison Amelia, but is foiled by her faithful servant, Fanny. In the end, Elisabeth orders the arrest of Warney, pardons Leicester and Amelia, and approves their marriage to the jubilation of all.

Recordings

Year	Cast (Queen Elisabeth I, Amelia Robsart, Leicester, Warney)	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1977	Janet Price Janet Price Janet Price is a Welsh soprano particularly associated with the 19th century Italian bel canto repertory. She has been married to composer Adrian Beaumont since 1963.... , Yvonne Kenny, Maurice Arthur, Christian Du Plessis	Alun Francis Alun Francis Alun Francis is a Welsh conductor.-Professional career:Francis was the principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra from 1966 for ten years... , Philomusica of London and the Opera Rara Chorus (Recording of a performance in the Collegiate Theatre, London as part of the Camden Festival)	Audio CD: MRF Records Cat: MRF 143-S
1989	Mariella Devia Mariella Devia Mariella Devia is an Italian soprano, well known for performing many roles in the bel canto repertoire.Born in Chiusavecchia, Devia trained at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Iolanda Magnoni... , Denia Mazzola (Gavazzeni), Jozef Kundlák, Barry Anderson	Jan Latham-Koenig, Radio Televisione Italiana RAI RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy... Orchestra and Chorus	Audio CD: Ricordi/Fonit Cetra Cat: RFCD 2005