Gabriella di Vergy
Gabriella di Vergy is an opera seria in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti written in 1826 and revised in 1838, from a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on the tragedy Gabrielle de Vergy by Dormont De Belloy. Prior to that, the play was itself inspired by two French medieval legends, Le châtelain de Coucy et la dame de Fayel and Le Roman de la chastelaine de Vergy.
The story had already been the subject of an opera by Michele Carafa and had previously been used by Johann Simon Mayr, Francesco Morlacchi, and Carlo Coccia. It was also subsequently used as Gabriella di Vergy by Saverio Mercadante in 1828.
"In its original form the opera was never performed", but parts of the original version were re-used by Donizetti in his other operas Otto mesi in due ore, L’esule di Roma, Il paria and Anna Bolena. For the revised version, Donizetti revisited Gabriella di Vergy and incorporated into the opera parts of Ugo, conte di Parigi, Rosmonda d'Inghilterra and Maria de Rudenz.
Performance history
After Donizetti's death, his Gabriella di Vergy finally received its first performance on 29 November 1869 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples with the title of Gabriella. However, the score was a rifacimento, compiled by Giuseppe Puzone and Paolo Serrao. They combined elements from both the 1826 and 1838 versions as well as music from some of Donizetti's cantatas and his lesser-known operas.The 1838 version of the opera was rediscovered in 1978 by Don White and Patric Schmid of Opera Rara. Subsequently, it was given its first performance in the UK on 9 September 1978 in Belfast and recorded. The first fully-staged UK performance was given by the Dorset Opera Festival on 31 August 1985.