La hija de Rappaccini is an opera in two acts composed by Daniel Catán

Daniel Catán

Daniel Catán was a Mexican composer of Russian Sephardic Jewish descent known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship with the tenor Plácido Domingo.-Career:...

 to 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 Juan Tovar based on the play by Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...

 and the short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...

. It premiered at the Palacio de Bellas Artes

Palacio de Bellas Artes

The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...

 in Mexico City in 1991 and had its US premiere in 1994 at San Diego Opera

San Diego Opera

The San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...

.

Synopsis

The story is set in Padua in a distant, but unspecified past. From his quarters, Giovanni, a young student of medicine, observes Beatriz, the beautiful daughter of Dr. Rappaccini, a scientist working in isolation. Beatriz is confined to the lush and locked gardens in which experiments involving poisonous plants take place. Having fallen in love, Giovanni ignores the warning of his mentor, Professor Baglioni, that Rappaccini is up to no good and he and his work should be shunned. Eventually, Giovanni sneaks into the forbidden garden to meet his lover, and begins to suffer the consequences of the encounter with the plants - and with Beatriz, who dwells among them and has been rendered both immune to their effects and poisonous to others. In the end, Beatriz dies after being given an antidote by Giovanni.

Sources

• Bernheimer, Martin (March 7, 1994). "'La Hija de Rappaccini': Venturing a Mexican Fantasy". Los Angeles Times
  Los Angeles Times
  The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
  
  .
• Smith, Patrick J. (March 1998). Recording review: Catan: La Hija de Rappaccini. Opera News
  Opera News
  Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
  
  
• Tommasini, Anthony (April 25, 1997). "A Mad Botanist's Idea of Fathering". New York Times