Gaetano Donizettii: La Fille du Regiment (Daughter of the Regiment)
The Friends of the Cooper Memorial Library will host a showing of Gaetano Donizetti’s delightful opera La Fille Du Régiment (Daughter of the Regiment) on Monday, July 22, at 1:45 pm in room 108 B.
La Fille Du Regiment is an opéra comique (comical opera) in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse.
The opera was written by Donizetti while he was living in Paris between 1838 and 1840 preparing a revised version of his then-unperformed Italian opera, Poliuto, as Les Martyrs (The Martyrs) for the Paris Opéra. Since Martyrs was delayed, the composer had time to write the music for La Fille Du Regiment, his first opera set to a French text, as well as to stage the French version of Lucia di Lammermoor (The Bride of Lammermoor) as Lucie de Lammermoor.
La Fille Du Régiment quickly became a popular success partly because of the famous aria “Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête! (Ah! my friends, what a day of celebration!)”, which requires of the tenor no fewer than eight high Cs – a frequently sung ninth is not written.
This is a free program and light refreshments will be provided during the intermission for our guests.
For more information about Opera @ the Library programs and our other special events, please visit our web presence at https://sites.google.com/site/operaatthelibrary/ or contact Dennis Smolarek at 352.536.2275 x2623 and email at operaatcooperlibrary@gmail.co
