About the work
Imelda de' Lambertazzi is a two-act melodramma tragico by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on Gabriele Sperduti's tragedy Imelda. It premiered on 5 September 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples – the same year as Donizetti's breakthrough work Anna Bolena.
Plot
In medieval Bologna, torn between warring Guelph and Ghibelline factions, Imelda, daughter of the Ghibelline leader Orlando, secretly loves the exiled Guelph commander Bonifacio Gieremei. Her brother Lamberto opposes the match, kills Bonifacio's father and finally poisons Bonifacio himself; Imelda dies trying to suck the poison from his wound.
Cultural significance
Unlike Anna Bolena, Imelda was unsuccessful and vanished from the stage for over a century. Only a concert performance in London in 2007 under Mark Elder and the accompanying Opera Rara recording – the work's first studio recording – brought it back into view.