DESCRIPTION:
LA FAVORITE
Opéra en 4 actes
Composer : Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848)
Libretto : Alphonse Royer, Gustave Vaëz & Eugène Scribe, after Baculard d’Arnaud’s ‘Le comte de Comminges’ (1790)
First performance : Académie Royale de Musique, Paris, 2 December 1840

SETTING : Castile, 1340

PLOT : Fernand, a young novice at the monastery of Santiago de Compostela, has fallen in love with a woman whom he saw leaving church. Despite his superior’s warnings, he renounces the monastic life. However, the woman he has fallen in love with Léonore de Guzman, the mistress of Alfonso XI of Castile (1311–50). Fernand, unaware of this, performs great deeds for the king, who offers him any reward. Fernand asks to marry the woman he loves. The jealous king agrees, and Fernand discovers to his horror that he has brought dishonour on himself. He breaks his sword, quits the king’s service, and returns to the monastery. Léonore, dying from grief, follows him there, and dies in his arms.

‘La favorite’ was a favorite of the French opera-going public. It was one of the mainstays of the repertoire, with Meyerbeer’s grand opéras [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBkNNfH430w&list=PLoB7Fd8EvhHZNX5BPrHOrnoPespmBBRVx], Halévy’s ‘Juive’ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAPWcOntk5U&list=PLoB7Fd8EvhHYZDvgKcRHoJ4_7_3_wRzdO], Rossini’s ‘Guillaume Tell’ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OsI9zL82V4&list=PLoB7Fd8EvhHZ8eYMRo4qTTjeXujkxUR6G] and Auber’s ‘Muette de Portici’ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwN4Wx2kdco&list=PLoB7Fd8EvhHaSLSB-af4WuXf5Qe7hQDSi]. It was performed each year at the Opéra until 1894. The plot is dramatic and affecting, and the score – a revision of ‘L’Ange de Nisida’, an abandoned project originally intended to be performed at the Théâtre de la Renaissance – is one of Donizetti’s finest.

No. 6 – Récitatif & Air : ‘Jardins de l’Alcazar’
Alphonse XI walks in the gardens of the Alhambra. His armies, led by Fernand, have defeated the Moors – but he has problems closer to home. Scheming courtiers have told the Pope of his relationship with Léonor. In spite of their plotting, however, he loves Léonor; she is more important to him than God, his people and his crown.

Alphonse XI, roi de Castille / king of Castille (baritone) : Anthony Michaels-Moore
Don Gaspar, officier du roi / king’s officer (tenor): Francesco Piccoli
Chor des Bayerischen Radiofunks

Conductor : Marcello Viotti
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Munich, 1999