About the work
Caterina Cornaro, ossia La regina di Cipro is a three-act tragedia lirica by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Giacomo Sacchero, based on Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges' text for Halévy's La reine de Chypre (1841). It dramatises the life of the historical Caterina Cornaro (1454–1510), Queen of Cyprus. It premiered on 12 January 1844 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, after a planned Vienna premiere fell through because Franz Lachner had recently composed an opera on the same subject.
Plot
The Venetian noblewoman Caterina loves Gerardo but is married off by the Republic of Venice, for political advantage, to Lusignano, King of Cyprus. When Lusignano is mortally wounded defending Cyprus against Venetian forces, he entrusts the island's rule to Caterina.
Cultural significance
The Naples premiere was booed: censorship had altered parts of the plot and music against Donizetti's wishes, and the title role was cast with a mezzo-soprano rather than the soprano he had written for. Only a 1972 revival with Leyla Gencer and a 2024 critical edition by Eleonora Di Cintio brought the opera back into view.