A Night at the Opera

Teatro Comunale

Last night we went to see Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. It was a student production (they have an opera school here.) The professional run of Lucia is mixed in with the student production and, we believe, use the same costumes, sets, orchestra and chorus. The woman who played Lucia was fantastic. It's all very gothic and you don't realize how much you will like the piece itself until you actually see it in an Italian opera house, with the music and the atmosphere.

Mad Scene (from another production, but you get the idea)

The tale is borrowed from Sir Walter Scott's book "Bride of the Lammermoors" and is all about forced betrothal and marriage, a mad heroine, murder etc. etc. You can get a synopsis here.

We're supposed to go to a wedding in Scotland in June, but now we're nervous!

The inside of Bologna's Teatro Comunale, built in late 1700s

Lucia is one of the best examples of the style "bel canto" (beautiful singing) which, according to Wikipedia "characteristically focuses on perfect evenness throughout the voice, skillful legato, a light upper register, tremendous agility and flexibility, and a certain lyric, "sweet" timbre. Operas of the style feature extensive and florid ornamentation, requiring much in the way of fast scales and cadenzas. Bel canto emphasizes technique rather than volume: an exercise said to demonstrate its epitome involves a singer holding a lit candle to her mouth and singing without causing the flame to flicker.^[1]"