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An Abstract On The Development of Donizetti's Lucia Cadenza

This is a summary of a journal from Pugliese explaining how Lucia stood the test of time during the change of a musical era via adaption and character building.

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Marie Spidale
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92 views1 page

An Abstract On The Development of Donizetti's Lucia Cadenza

This is a summary of a journal from Pugliese explaining how Lucia stood the test of time during the change of a musical era via adaption and character building.

Uploaded by

Marie Spidale
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Marie Spidale

Guhl-Miller
Research in Music
9/26/16
Abstract of The Origins of Lucia di Lammermoors Cadenza: Pugliese
The romanticized, unprovable theory that Donizetti had a hand in the evolution of the
cadenza, sung in the mad scene, of his opera Lucia is refuted and backed by a historical study.
Lavish cadenza was atypical of the mid-nineteenth century opera style and the passage that is
revered today (acrobatic voice and flute) was not inserted until 1893 after Melba's debut as Lucia
post the opera going into hiatus for 20 years. Donizetti wrote the role into existence for dramatic
soprano voices but the role evolved as time went on to embody more lyric soprano portrayals (as
the lyric soprano became more prominent at the end of the century). A second analysis revealed
research on the opera role shift surrounding women and madness. Lead women in opera of the
early to mid-nineteenth century are depicted as sweet, chaste and docile ingnues. Towards the
end of the century women of the stage became more "dangerous" vehicles with their sex appeal
and more forward violent behavior. It is thought that the madness depicted in Lucia justifies a
broken ingnue and blends the mid-century ideal to the later century shift. Though Donizetti was
not solely responsible for all of the adaptions to Lucia, he wrote into existence a dynamic
character that reflected both romantic ideal and contemporary exoticism. Because of Lucia's
adaptions and dynamic female role, the opera stands the test of time from one opera era to
another.

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