As was so often the case, Donizetti composed Lucia di Lammermoor in the record time of just a few weeks. Nevertheless, with this opera he created one of the most important and popular masterpieces of Italian romantic opera. Lucia di Lammermoor flourishes not only because of its melodic richness and its characters drawn concisely through the music; Donizetti skilfully softened the prescribed rigid structures of bel canto opera and placed his protagonists Lucia-Edgardo-Enrico in the emotional triangle of love, hate and passion. The opera was part of the core repertoire at the Wiener Staatsoper until 1926 and then again from 1978, offering generations of singers the possibility of proving themselves in the ultimate art of bel canto. Evelino Pido conducts the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus in tonight’s production staring Olga Peretyatko as Lucia and Juan Diego Florez as Sir Edgardo in a production recorded in the Vienna State Opera this year.
RTÉ lyric fm, Saturday 8th June, 7pm-10pm