Opera Tickets Italy

The Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence offers the chance to witness a production of Lucrezia Borgia, Gaetano Donizetti's epic historical opera. Felice Romani, Donizetti's countryman and a poet of some renown produced the libretto. Romani adapted Lucrezia Borgia from a stage play of the same name penned by Victor Hugo. The resulting opera premiered on 26 December 1833 at La Scala in Milan. Donizetti's notoriety as an operatic master had already been gaining ground in Italy prior to the first staging of Lucrezia Borgia but this new work cemented his reputation as one of the greats.

Lucrezia Borgia was a real person, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI. She lived in the early Italian Renaissance period and became the governess of a Perugian city-state called Spoleto. At that time, this sort of administrative role would have usually been reserved for men of the cloth. What made the historical figure of Lucrezia Borgia so fascinating wasn't her unusual position, however, it was her political scheming. She arranged numerous marriages – her own included – that aimed to advance her faction at the cost of others. Her success in this did not go unnoticed during her lifetime and some even speculated about the death of her first husband, Giovanni Sforza - Lord of Pesaro and Gradara, suggesting she may have arranged his demise. For many, therefore, she is the archetypal femme fatale, something that Donizetti certainly noticed about her.

In the operatic version of her life story, the plot covers the period when Borgia had become the Duke of Ferrara's wife, her third husband. The Duke suspects his wife is conducting an extra-marital affair with a Venetian nobleman called Gennaro. Despite the Duke's suspicions, no such relationship exists and Gennaro, in fact, believes the entire Borgia clan to be corrupt. During the opera, the young nobleman discovers an awful truth: Lucrezia Borgia is his mother and he was brought up secretly away from her and the Duke to disguise this fact. Later, there is an altercation leading to the arrest of Gennaro and his friends. On discovering this, the title character seeks to help her son but, in true Borgia style, she also seeks a terrible revenge on those she sees as wrongdoers.

Donizetti scored some dramatic music for Lucrezia Borgia, especially towards its climactic finale. This is when one of the most famous soprano arias, Era desso il figlio mio, is performed. It is among the most demanding of all arias in the Italian opera repertoire. Florence's Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino offers the chance to enjoy Lucrezia Borgia in full with Donizetti's mastery on show throughout.