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Performance History
The opera underwent many revisions and changes of title over the years, with a performance history nearly as convoluted as its plot. Its first version premiered with the title Otto mesi in due ore at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples on May 13, 1827, and was performed 50 times in its first season. In 1831, it was presented in Milan to only limited success as Gli esiliati in Siberia. In 1832, Donizetti revised the opera somewhat, adapting the original soprano role of Elisabetta for the popular Austrian mezzo-soprano, Caroline Ungher. He revised the opera further for its premiere in Livorno in 1833.
Between 1838 and 1840 Donizetti substantially re-worked the opera again, adding new music, for a longer version, Élisabeth ou la fille de l'exilé which was intended for performance in Paris. The new French libretto was written by Adolphe de Leuven and Léon-Lévy Runswick. The American musicologist Will Crutchfield has suggested that by this point, it had now a become virtually a separate opera to Otto mesi in due ore, although clearly retaining many elements of the original. However, the new work was never staged in Donizetti's lifetime. Donizetti subsequently offered its Italian version, Elisabetta, to Her Majesty's Theatre in London. This version was likewise never performed in his lifetime.
The long forgotten score for Elisabetta was later found in the basement of London's Royal Opera House. Acts I and III were found by Will Crutchfield in 1984, and Act II by Richard Bonynge in 1988. It received its first performance, with the score edited by Will Crutchfield and Roger Parker, at the Royal Festival Hall in London on December 16, 1997. Carlo Rizzi conducted the Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus in a concert performance with Andrea Rost singing the role of Elisabetta, and the young Juan Diego Flórez as Count Potoski.
The Italian composer Uranio Fontana, who claimed to have been a pupil of Donizetti, attempted to resurrect the French version after Donizetti's death. However according to Will Crutchfield, Fontana did not have access to Donizetti's revised score, which by this time had ended up in London. Instead, he tried to set the original score of Otto mesi to the longer De Leuven and Brunswick libretto and composed the missing music (over half the opera) himself. The Fontana version premiered at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris in 1853.
The first performance of the 1840 French version, Élisabeth ou la fille de l'exilé, using only Donizetti's music took place at the Caramoor International Music Festival on July 17, 2003. Will Crutchfield conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke's in a semi-staged production. Irini Tsirakidis sang the role of Élisabeth, and Yeghishe Manucharyan was Count Potoski. To prepare the Caramoor performing edition, Crutchfield worked with the French manuscript, using the orchestration from the London version, and the original score of Otto mesi in due ore to construct the final aria. The recitatives from Elisabetta were adapted to spoken dialogue as the French version was intended to be an opéra comique.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, May 13, 1827 (Conductor unknown) |
|---|---|---|
| L'imperatore, Tsar | tenor | Antonio Manzi |
| Il Grande Maresciallo, Grand Marshal | bass | Giuseppe Fioravanti |
| Conte Stanislao Potoski | tenor | Giuseppe Loira |
| Contessa Fedora, Potoski's wife | mezzo-soprano | Signora Servoli |
| Elisabetta, their daughter | soprano | Caterina Lipparini |
| Maria, Elisabetta's nurse | mezzo-soprano | Francesca Ceccherini |
| Michele, Maria's son and messenger for the Russian government |
bass | Gennaro Luzio |
| Ivano, a former aristocrat, now a ferryman on the Kama river |
bass | Vincenzo Galli |
| Alterkan, leader of the Tartar hordes | bass | Raffaele Scalese |
| Orzak, another Tartar leader | tenor | Giuseppe Papi |
Synopsis
The original story comes from the 1806 novel, 'Elisabeth, ou Les exilés de Sibérie (Elisabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia), written by Sophie Ristaud Cottin. Luigi Marchionni's subsequent play, La figlia dell’esiliato, ossia Otto mesi in due ore (The Daughter of the Exile, or Eight Months in Two Hours), first performed in Italy in 1820, was the more immediate basis for Gilardoni's libretto.
Act 1
Saimika, Siberia
Having been wrongly exiled, Count Stanislao Potoski, his wife, Countess Fedora, and their daughter, Elisabetta, are living in a ramshackle dwelling attached to an abbey. Elisabetta vows to undertake an arduous journey on foot to Moscow to seek a pardon from the Tsar.
Act 2
The shores of the Kama River
Elisabetta is befriended by Tartar hordes, who had initially threatened her but were won over by her innocence and virtue. She also meets Ivano, the man responsible for her parents' exile, who is now working as a ferryman at the river. When the river floods, Elisabetta saves herself by making a raft from the wooden tomb of Ivano's dead daughter.
Act 3
A grand chamber in the Kremlin
The Grand Marshal, who is also partly responsible for the Potoski family's exile, tries to cause trouble for Elisabetta. Nevertheless, she manages to reach the Tsar, who in the meantime has received a letter from his messenger Michele (a friend of Elisabetta and the son of her nurse) explaining the injustice of their exile. The Tsar pardons the whole family who are then reunited in Moscow.
Selected recordings
Donizetti: Gli esiliati in Siberia - Orchestre National de Montpellier, Choeur de la Radio Lettone
- Conductor: Enrique Diemecke
- Principle singers: Brigitte Hahn (Elisabetta); Christine Neithardt-Barbaux (Fedora); Alessandra Palomba (Maria); Luca Canonici (Potoski); Alfonso Antoniozzi (Michele); Nikola Mijailovic (Gran Maresciallo); Valery Ivanov (Ivano); Jérome Varnier (Alterkan); Yann Beuron (Imperatore)
- Recording date: 12 July 1999
- Label: Actes Sud - AD124(CD)
References
- Otto mesi in due ore: Libretto. Accessed 30 July 2007.
- Will Crutchfield, 'Donizetti's Élisabeth, ou la fille de l'exilé', The Donizetti Society. (This article discusses the significant differences between Élisabeth, ou la fille de l'exilé and Otto mesi in due ore as well as the process of reconstructing the score.) Accessed 30 July 2007.
- Gregory M. Lamb, 'Lost and Found', The Christian Science Monitor, 27 June 2003. Accessed 30 July 2007.
- Marion Lignana Rosenberg, 'Donizetti's Elisabeth at Caramoor, Opera News, October 2003. Accessed 30 July 2007.
- Robert Levine, Review of Gli esiliati in Siberia (Actes Sud- AD124 CD), Classics Today. Accessed 30 July 2007.
- Anthony Tommasini, 'A Donizetti Discovery, Reinterpreted', The New York Times, 19 July 2003. Accessed 30 July 2007.
- Rodney Milnes, 'Bizarre - but seldom boring', The Times, 18 December 1997. Reprinted here. Accessed 30 July 2007.
- Hugh Canning, 'Replacement value', The Sunday Times, 21 December 1997. Reprinted here. Accessed 30 July 2007.
- '"Lost" Donizetti opera scored by Music Faculty', The Oxford University Gazette, 11 December 1997. (A brief account of how the score for the 1997 London performance of Elisabetta was assembled and edited.) Accessed 31 July 2007.
- Andrew Porter, 'Return of the exile' The Times, 2 January 1998. Accessed 31 July 2007.
- 'Role creators in the Donizetti operas', Opera Glass. Accessed 30 July 2007.
