About the work
Azione tragico-sacra in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, combining the biblical flood narrative with motifs from Lord Byron's drama "Heaven and Earth" and Francesco Ringhieri's tragedy "Il diluvio" (1788). It premiered on 6 March 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples with Luigi Lablache as Noè.
Plot
The pagan satrap Cadmo tries to destroy the ark built by Noè while the people prepare for the foretold flood. Cadmo's wife Sela secretly turns to the God of the Hebrews and warns Noè, but is betrayed by her confidante. During a wedding celebration, the gates of heaven finally open and the flood engulfs the unbelievers.
Cultural significance
To get past Neapolitan censorship, Donizetti disguised the biblical subject as a "sacred action". Despite elaborate stage machinery for the flood scene, success remained limited: only two further performances took place during the entire nineteenth century, and the work returned to the stage only sporadically from 1985 onward.