Mira David

Based on Victor Hugo’s passionate play about Mary Tudor, Maria regina d’Inghilterra was one of Pacini’s most successful operas. Written in 1843, the vocal portrait of the central character is among the composer’s best creations. Joy, tears, outrage and forgiveness are all contained in the vivid vocal characterisation that was Pacini’s hallmark.

This remarkable romantic melodrama was all but forgotten after it was cold-shouldered by its original Venetian audience in 1835. This completely new performing edition reveals it as a vocal showcase of huge variety. Bruce Ford takes the title role, giving a bravura performance as the Burgundian duke caught in tragic conflict between love and duty. Jennifer Larmore and Elizabeth Futral are the rival leading ladies, whose final confrontation is a duet of exceptional virtuosity.

Meyerbeer’s elaborate use of vocal and orchestral forces is seminal in the development of 19th-century opera. Opera Rara’s edition features all the music written for productions the composer supervised. In the opera Adriano, a Knight of Rhodes, comes to Egypt in search of his nephew Armando, whom he believes may have died in battle. In fact he has married Palmide, daughter of the Sultan of Egypt and she has converted to Christianity. The furious Sultan throws everyone in jail, but all is forgiven when Armando intercedes in a plot to overthrow his father-in-law.