Donna Bianca is an opera in a prologue and four acts composed by Alfredo Keil to an Italian-language libretto by César Féréal. The libretto is based the narrative poem Dona Branca by Almeida Garrett. The opera premiered on 10 March 1888 at the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon and had 30 performances between 1888 and 1899. The opera was revived at the Teatro São Carlos in September 2010 in a series of four concert performances sung in the original Italian.[1][2]

Set in Portugal during the reconquest of the Kingdom of the Algarve from the Moors in the second half of the 13th century, the opera recounts the tragic love story between Afonso III's daughter Dona Branca and the Moor ruler Aben-Afan.[2]

Roles

Marino Mancinelli
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 10 March 1888[3]
(Conductor: Marino Mancinelli)
Aben-Afan tenor António D'Andrade
Donna Bianca soprano Elena Theodorini
Adaour baritone Francisco D'Andrade
Old Moorish woman contralto Giulia Prandi
Don Payo Peres bass Meroles
Don Nuno tenor Durini
Soldier baritone Pietro Ghidotti
Fada mezzo-soprano G. Figuet
Alda soprano Olavarri
Popular tenor Foresti

References

  1. Cruz, Manuel Ivo (2008). A Ópera em Portugal, p. 52. Imprensa Nacional–Casa da Moeda (in Portuguese)
  2. 1 2 Diário Digital (29 September 2010). "Ópera «Dona Branca» estreia hoje no São Carlos". Retrieved 18 January 2014 (in Portuguese).
  3. Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (Venezia). Library record: Document VEA1198767T. Retrieved 11 January 2014 (in Italian).


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