Families are wonderful things, until they’re not, and many of the most dysfunctional families have made to the stage. We’re looking at the beginnings of one of them on this week’s Sunday Opera (3/30 3:00 p.m.) with Gaetano Donizetti’s “Rosmonda D’ Inghilterra.”
The royal family in question was made famous by James Goldman in his play “The Lion in Winter,” but Donizetti’s work meets the family at the beginning of its tumultuous issues. Henry II (Dario Schmunck) started the Plantagenet line in Britain, the first of what was considered true English kings and would be in power for over 320 years until the Tudor line took over after the War of the Roses. However, like many in the royal line, he had a roving eye which caused a great deal of consternation for his wife, the fabled Eleanor of Aquitaine (Eva Mei). The unfortunate young lady this time is the fair Rosamond Clifford (Jessica Pratt), and even though she tries to do the right thing, Eleanor’s jealousy gets the better of her with tragic consequences.
Our cast also includes Nicola Ulivieri as Rosmonda’s father and Raffaella Lupinacci as Arturo, Henry’s page. They’re joined by the Orchestra and Chorus of the Donizetti Festival with Sebastiano Rolli conducting.
After “Rosmonda,” we’ll follow with another dysfunctional family in Donizetti’s “Rita, ou Le mari battu” (“Rita, or the Battered Husband”) where two husband’s fight over a wife who is married to both of them, but in this case, they’re fighting not to be married to her any longer. How does it get resolved? Tune in to find out. This cast of three includes Adelina Scarabelli, Pietro Ballo, and Alessandro Corbelli with Federico Amendoia conducting the Orchestra da Camera Siciliana.
Following the operas, stay tuned for more music of Donizetti including his Concertino in F major featuring oboist Lajos Lencses and I Salonisti performing a paraphrase of Donizetti’s “La Favorita.”
