Gaetano Donizetti: maria De Rudenz (Opera Rara Audio CD)

Opera Rara Donizetti 2 CD

An opera in which the soprano dies twice! Yet Cammarano's grisly libretto is given some of Donizetti's most beautiful music.

After eloping with her lover and being deserted by him, Maria is believed dead but returns home to discover her father has died and left everything to her cousin Matilde. Marias ex-lover stabs her and again Maria is believed dead, but in the gripping final scene - a gift for a soprano - Maria stabs Matilde and then confronts Corrado, telling him in her dying moments that she still loves him. This scene alone was enough to ensure many productions throughout Italy and Europe in Donizetti’s lifetime and beyond.


'The blood and thunder ensembles and duets create a rip-roaring bel canto feast.' - The San Francisco Tribune