Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo

For other uses, see Furioso (disambiguation).
Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo
Opera by Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti c. 1835
LibrettistJacopo Ferretti
LanguageItalian
Premiere
2 January 1833 (1833-01-02)
Teatro Valle, Rome

Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo (The Madman on the Island of San Domingo) is a "romantic melodramma"[1] in two[2] acts by the composer Gaetano Donizetti. Jacopo Ferretti, who since 1821 had written five libretti for Donizetti and two for Rossini (including La Cenerentola), had proposed the unusual subject[3] and he was contracted to write the Italian libretto based on a five-act play of the same title by an unknown author in 1820, which "had been given in the same theatre [...] and which Donizetti had immediately loved".[4] However, as has been noted by Charles Osborne, the "ultimate derivation of both play and libretto is an episode in part 1 of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes's published in 1605" which is the story of Cardenio and Lucinda.[5]

The opera was premiered at the Teatro Valle in Rome on 2 January 1833 and was very successful throughout Europe—being staged in over 100 locations—but it disappeared after 1889, not to be seen again until 1958.[5]

  1. ^ Ashbrook 1998, New Grove, p. 316: In the Grove article, Ashbrook makes a specific point of declaring that the opera is not semiseria because Cardenio is not a figure of fun but one of pathos due to his delusions. He also notes that the term "Romantic melodramma" is the description found in the original score.
  2. ^ Ashbrook 1998, p. 316: Ashbrook notes 2 acts, Osborne says 3, but the Rizzi recording uses 2 acts
  3. ^ Battaglia, p. 11
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Battaglia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference OSB-94 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).