About the work
Melodramma in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Felice Romani, first performed on 26 December 1833 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Donizetti himself chose Victor Hugo's play "Lucrèce Borgia", first staged only months earlier, as the source; Romani, who initially found the story too drastic, also had to adapt it to Milan's strict censorship.
Plot
The young mercenary Gennaro falls in love with an unknown woman, unaware that she is the feared Lucrezia Borgia. When his circle of friends publicly insults Lucrezia, she has them all poisoned in revenge — not knowing Gennaro is among them. She offers him alone an antidote and reveals that she is his mother, but he dies before the truth can change anything.
Cultural significance
Written between "Anna Bolena" (1830) and "Lucia di Lammermoor" (1835), the work is considered one of Donizetti's dramaturgically tightest bel canto operas; its influence on Verdi's later blend of family conflict and revenge tragedy is still noted today.