| Il castello di Kenilworth | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Gaetano Donizetti | |
 Donizetti as a young man | |
| Librettist | Andrea Leone Tottola |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Amy Robsart by Victor Hugo |
| Premiere | 6 July 1829 Teatro di San Carlo, Naples |
Il castello di Kenilworth (or, under its original name in 1829, Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth)[1] is a melodramma serio or tragic opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Andrea Leone Tottola wrote the Italian libretto after Victor Hugo's play Amy Robsart (1828) and Eugène Scribe's play Leicester, both of which following from Sir Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth (1821). Daniel Auber composed another opera on the same subject, Leicester, ou Le chateau de Kenilworth in 1823.
This opera was the first of Donizetti's excursions into the Tudor period of English history, and it was followed in 1830 by Anna Bolena, (which was based on the life of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII), then by Maria Stuarda (named for Mary, Queen of Scots) which appeared in different forms in 1834 and 1835. All represented the interests (even obsessions) of many Italian composers of the era, Donizetti's included, in the character of Elizabeth I, whose life he was to explore further in 1837 in his opera Roberto Devereux (named for Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, a favourite of Elizabeth I). The leading female characters of the operas Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux are often referred to as the "Three Donizetti Queens".
As Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth the opera received its first performance on 6 July 1829 at the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, and in a revised version at the same house, as Il castello di Kenilworth on 24 June 1830.[1]