Malvina di Scozia
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Malvina di Scozia is a dramma tragico (tragic opera) in three acts by Giovanni Pacini. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto.
Malvina di Scozia was beset by obstacles at its 1851 Naples premiere. Pacini’s collaborator, the experienced librettist Salvadore Cammarano, was mortally ill. The opera’s subject matter, the history of Inês de Castro and depicting the sordid behavior of the nobility, aroused unwanted attention from the royal censors of the King of Naples. The composer and librettist were forced to change the action from Portugal to ancient Scotland for fear of offending the King. So, unlike Lucia di Lammermoor, another opera with a Cammarano libretto, Malvina has no real connection to Scottish culture.
The lead tenor quit before the opening, and the opera had to be hastily rewritten for an unconventional cast of soprano, coloratura contralto, baritone and bass. Even with these challenges, Pacini created an opera so beautiful that a throng of admirers escorted the veteran composer home by torchlight after the premiere. Described at the premiere as “a wealth of harmony and melody…imagined and felt by a great master” the opera played to full houses for two months. But without a lead tenor part, and with Pacini’s star on the wane, it was revived only twice and vanished from the repertoire after 1862. It has not been heard in over 150 years.
In Brooklyn, New York in 2016, Vertical Player Repertory[1] commissioned music editor and conductor Hans Schellevis to create a new performing edition of this intriguing opera.