Rosmonda d'Inghilterra 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...

or 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 two 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...

. 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...

 was written by Felice Romani

Felice Romani

Felice Romani was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito.-Biography:Born Giuseppe Felice Romani to a bourgeois family in Genoa,...

 originally for Coccia

Carlo Coccia

Carlo Coccia was an Italian opera composer. He was known for the genre of opera semiseria.- Life and career :...

's Rosmunda (1829). It is based on the legend of Rosamund Clifford

Rosamund Clifford

Rosamund Clifford , often called "The Fair Rosamund" or the "Rose of the World", was famed for her beauty and was a mistress of King Henry II of England, famous in English folklore....

 (The Fair Rosamund).

Performance history

It premiered at the Teatro della Pergola

Teatro della Pergola

The Teatro della Pergola is a historic opera house in Florence, Italy. It is located in the centre of the city on the Via della Pergola, from which the theatre takes its name...

, Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 on February 27, 1834 and was revived only in Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

 in 1845. The opera was revised as Eleonora di Gujenna for 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...

 in 1837. It was largely forgotten until its English rediscovery in 1975 by Patric Schmid, co-founder of Opera Rara

Opera Rara

Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...

, who recognised Donizetti's handwriting by chance on the manuscript in the library of the Naples Conservatory.. A concert performance was given at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 with Yvonne Kenny

Yvonne Kenny

Yvonne Kenny AM is an Australian soprano, particularly associated with Handel and Mozart roles.Born in Sydney, she first studied at the University of Sydney in science, hoping to become a biochemist, but decided to pursue a career in music instead...

 in the title role, and later a recording followed.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 27 February 1834 (Conductor: - )
Rosmonda Clifford, Clifford's daughter	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...	Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani was an Italian soprano particularly associated with bel canto composers, such as Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and early Verdi...
Eleonora di Guienna	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...	Anna Delserre
Enrico II, King of England	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...	Gilbert Duprez Gilbert Duprez Gilbert Duprez was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest. He also created the role of Edgardo in the popular bel canto-era opera Lucia di Lammermoor in 1835.-Biography:Gilbert-Louis Duprez, to give his full...
Arturo, Enrico's page	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...	Giuseppina Merola
Clifford, old governor	bass	Carlo Porto Ottolini
Officials, councilmen, pages, soldiers

Recordings

Year	Cast (Rosmonda Clifford, Leonora di Guienna, Enrico II, Arturo, Clifford)	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1975	Yvonne Kenny Yvonne Kenny Yvonne Kenny AM is an Australian soprano, particularly associated with Handel and Mozart roles.Born in Sydney, she first studied at the University of Sydney in science, hoping to become a biochemist, but decided to pursue a career in music instead... , Ludmilla Andrew, Richard Greager, Enid Hartle, Christian du Plessis Christian du Plessis Christian du Plessis is a South African baritone, largely based in England, and particularly associated with the bel canto repertory....	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... , Ulster Orchestra and Chorus of the Northern Ireland Opera Trust (Recording of a performance given by Opera Rara Opera Rara Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...  at the Queen's University Queen's University Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...  Festival, Belfast, 22 November)	33rpm LP: Unique Opera Records Corporation Cat: UORC 274
1994	Renée Fleming Renée Fleming Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also... , Nelly Miricioiu Nelly Miricioiu Nelly Miricioiu is a British operatic soprano of Romanian birth, one of the most versatile artists of recent years, singing a large repertoire ranging from bel canto to verismo with equal success.-Biography:... , Bruce Ford, Diana Montague Diana Montague Diana Montague is a British mezzo-soprano known for her performances in opera and as a concert singer.-Biography:She was born in Winchester and educated at the Testwood School, the Winchester School of Art and the Royal Northern College of Music... , Alastair Miles	David Parry David Parry (conductor) David Parry is an English conductor who is particularly known for his work within the field of opera. Described as "a man of the theatre with whom directors love to work; he is good with singers; he knows the British opera world like the back of his hand... , Philharmonia Orchestra Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...  and Geoffrey Mitchell Choir	Audio CD: Opera Rara Opera Rara Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The... Cat: ORC 13