| La zingara | |
|---|---|
| Opera semiseria by Gaetano Donizetti | |
 Donizetti as a young man | |
| Librettist | Andrea Leone Tottola |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | La petite bohémienne by Louis-Charles Caigniez |
| Premiere | 12 May 1822 |
La zingara (The Gypsy Girl) is an opera semiseria in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola after La petite bohémienne (The Little Gypsy) by Louis-Charles Caigniez, which was itself derived from a work of August von Kotzebue.
It was Donizetti's first opera written for Naples, and the first performance of this "rescue opera" took place at the Teatro Nuovo on 12 May 1822.
One critic reviewing the 2001 recording from the Festival della Valle d'Itria, made the following observations:
Despite its moronic libretto, the opera was an enormous success at its premiere in Naples in 1822, and even Bellini wrote nice things about the second-act septet[1] in which Donizetti mixes buffo and serious characters, as well as Neapolitan dialect (there are no recitatives; numbers are separated by spoken dialogue) with "pure" Italian, and the absurd plot is (sort of) held together by the clever Argilla, who under the guise of telling fortunes gains entry to people's feelings as well as to every area of the castle. Is it a masterpiece? Even close? No, but there are niceties galore—rhythmic arias and ensembles, good (if typical) characterizations, and good tunes.[2]
Its American premiere was produced by Amore Opera in New York City in 2017.[3]
- ^ Osborne 1994, p. 146: He notes that this was an "adumbration" of the famous sextet which appeared 13 years later in Lucia di Lammermoor
- ^ Robert Levine, "Donizetti – La zingara Review of 2002 recording on classicstoday.com. Retrieved 23 December 2013
- ^ "Arrivederci, Romany!" by John Yohalem, parterre box, 2 June 2017