ADELAIDE DI BORGOGNA (Rossini) Pesaro 2023 Olga Peretyatko, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Riccardo Fassi, René Barbera

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: ADELAIDE DI BORGOGNA  
• Composer: Rossini Gioachino   
• Libretto: Giovanni Federico Schmidt    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Vitrifrigo Arena, Pesaro, Italy, Rossini Opera Festival  
• Recorded: August 22, 2023
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Olga Peretyatko, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Riccardo Fassi, René Barbera, Paola Leoci, Valery Makarov. Antonio Mandrillo
• Conductor: Enrico Lombardi  
• Orchestra: Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai  
• Chorus: Coro del Teatro Ventidio Basso  
• Stage Director: ARNAUD BERNARD   
• Stage Designer: ALESSANDRO CAMERA  
• Costume Designer: MARIA CARLA RICOTTI  
• Lighting Designer: FIAMMETTA BALDISERRI  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: mezzo, Unitel  
• Date Published: 2023  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  
• This Recording is NOT AVAILABLE from a proper commercial or public source
•  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

Adelaide of Burgundy is an opera by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto, called Drama per musica in two acts, is by Giovanni Schmidt, who had already written Elizabeth, Queen of England and Armida for Rossini.

Plot
The subject of the work refers to an episode in Italian medieval history. Lothair, king of Italy from 945 to 950, was poisoned by Berengar, who usurped the crown. Lotario’s widow, Adelaide of Burgundy, takes refuge in the fortress of Canossa (Canosso in the libretto), to escape the persecution of Berengar, who would like to force her to marry Adelbert, her son. In Canossa Adelaide is protected by Attone (Iroldo in the libretto) but, unable to resist the siege, she asks for the intervention of Otto the Great, Emperor of Germany, offering himself as her bride and giving him the rights due to her. Ottone goes down to Lombardy, frees Adelaide from her, marries her and takes her with him to Germany.

However, Giovanni Schmidt’s libretto contains some inaccuracies: the action is dated to 947, when in reality Lotario died in 950; furthermore it is said that the fortress of Canossa is located near Lake Garda, but in reality it is on the Reggio Emilia Apennines.

The scene is partly in the fortress of Canossa, partly in Ottone’s camp.

Adelaide of Burgundy was staged on 27 December 1817, where Elisabetta Pinotti performed in the role of Ottone, at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. The opera, entrusted to a very modest singing company with Elisabetta Manfredini, and based on a dull libretto that did not stimulate Rossini’s creativity, was not successful.

On 3 April 1820 the premiere took place in the Teatro San Luca (now Teatro stable del Veneto Carlo Goldoni) in Venice. The premiere took place on 25 October 1822 in the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon. On 12 June 1825 the premiere took place in the Teatro Carlo Lodovico (later called Teatro San Marco) in Livorno. It was revived in a few theaters (we remember a performance in Turin with Giuditta Pasta in the role of Ottone). Rossini took back some of the music for Eduardo and Cristina.

In modern times it has been revived a few times, in 1978 in concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London with Ernesto Palacio, in 1984 at the Festival della Valle d’Itria with Mariella Devia, in 1988 in the Salle Pleyel in Paris (starring Devia, Palacio and Martine Dupuy conducted by Alberto Zedda) and in 2005 in concert at the Edinburgh International Festival with Jennifer Larmore and Bruce Ford; at the Rossini Opera Festival there were only two semi-staged performances in 2006 (with Daniela Barcellona, Patrizia Ciofi, Lorenzo Regazzo and the Haydn Orchestra). The first stage performance at the ROF took place in 2011 (with Barcellona, Jessica Pratt and Nicola Ulivieri), on the occasion of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy.