About the work
Gaetano Donizetti's three-act opera was premiered on 26 September 1835 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and ranks among the supreme masterpieces of tragic bel canto. The libretto by Salvadore Cammarano is based on Sir Walter Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor, set in seventeenth-century Scotland amid clan conflict. The opera's mad scene is among the most famous moments in all of opera.
Plot
In the feud between the Ashton and Ravenswood families, the young Lucia has secretly pledged herself to Edgardo, heir to the estate her brother Enrico has seized. Enrico forges a letter to convince Lucia of Edgardo's betrayal and forces her to marry the wealthy Lord Arturo Bucklaw. Edgardo arrives during the wedding, sees Lucia's signature, and curses her. That night, in a derangement of grief, Lucia murders her bridegroom and descends blood-stained in her wedding gown before the horrified guests, singing an aria of cascading madness. She dies of a broken heart; Edgardo, learning the truth too late, stabs himself at her grave.
Cultural significance
Lucia di Lammermoor contains the most famous mad scene in all of opera—the extended Il dolce suono in Act Three, with its coloratura flourishes and concertante flute obbligato, is a touchstone of the dramatic coloratura repertoire. The sextet Chi mi frena in tal momento is one of the great ensembles. The title role has defined the careers of Joan Sutherland (whose 1959 Covent Garden performance made her a star), Maria Callas, Beverly Sills, Edita Gruberová, and more recently Natalie Dessay and Diana Damrau.