Pia de' Tolomei
Pia de' Tolomei is a tragedia lirica (tragic opera) in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Bartolomeo Sestini's verse novella Pia de' Tolomei,[] based on Dante's narrative poem The Divine Comedy part 2: Purgatorio. It premiered on 18 February 1837 at the Teatro Apollo in Venice.
Background
Pia de' Tolomei is a tragic figure whom Dante encountered in Purgatory. Her story was so familiar to Dante's readers that an understated allusion was enough to call it to mind:
«Deh, quando tu sarai tornato al mondo,
e riposato de la lunga via»,
seguitò 'l terzo spirito al secondo,
«Ricorditi di me, che son la Pia;
Siena mi fé, disfecemi Maremma:
salsi colui che 'nnanellata pria
disposando m'avea con la sua gemma.»
“Ah, when you have returned to the world,
and rested from the long journey,”
followed the third spirit after the second,
“remember me, the one who is Pia;
Siena made me, Maremma undid me:
he knows it, the one who first encircled
my finger with his jewel, when he married me.”
19th century
Donizetti agreed to write Pia de' Tolomei for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and began composing it in October 1836 before the premiere of L'assedio di Calais in Naples in November. In early December he left for Venice, but was delayed in Genoa by an eighteen-day quarantine due to a cholera epidemic and while there learned that the Teatro La Fenice had been destroyed by fire on 12 December. Since the directors felt the production would have to be canceled, they wanted him to take a substantial reduction in his fee. After this news Donizetti originally intended to return to Naples, but having just signed a contract to purchase a new home prior to leaving Naples, he changed his mind and decided to proceed directly to Venice to see what could be done. After arriving he was able to reach an agreement with La Fenice's management and its impresario, Alessandro Lanari, to perform Pia de' Tolomei in early February at another theatre in Venice, the Teatro Apollo, where La Fenice's season had been transferred.
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