Lucrezia Borgia
A poisoner, murderer, femme fatale, schemer and liar, daughter and concubine of the Pope and lover of her brother. Lucrezia owes these legendary attributes to her surname, for the Borgias were one of the most influential and, for that reason, most hated families of the Renaissance – the Vatican's first mafia. Is there any room left to see Lucrezia Borgia as an unhappy woman and a passionately loving mother?
In his 1833 opera Lucrezia Borgia, Gaetano Donizetti approaches the title character with psychological precision, creating one of the most beautiful and multifaceted bel canto roles for coloratura soprano. Donizetti breaks with traditional opera seria and creates a psychologically nuanced portrait of a woman caught between power, guilt and longing. The dramatic template was provided by Victor Hugo's play of the same name, in which Lucrezia Borgia becomes the involuntary murderer of her own son. In her production for Nationaltheater Mannheim, director Rahel Thiel tells the story of a lone woman in a man's world, who wants to defy the fate of her name. Fabian Wendling‘s stage design creates a space in which Lucrezia constantly feels watched and judged by this male dominated world. Is there a way out?
CAST
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Lucrezia
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Estelle Kruger
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Alfonso
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Bartosz Urbanowicz
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Gennaro
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Sung Min Song
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Maffio Orsini
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Shachar Lavi
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Gubetta
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Sung Ha
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Liverotto
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Raphael Wittmer
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Vitellozzo
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Dominic Lee
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Petrucci
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Ilya Lapich
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Gazella
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Zacharías Galaviz-Guerra
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Rustighello
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Christopher Diffey
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Astolfo
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Thomas Berau
Joachim Goltz
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Orchestra
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Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim
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Chorus
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Men’s Chorus of Nationaltheater Mannheim
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Music
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Gaetano Donizetti
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Text
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Felice Romani
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Director
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Rahel Thiel
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Conductor
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Roberto Rizzi Brignoli
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Sets
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Fabian Wendling
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Costumes
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Rebekka Dornhege Reyes
Isabel Garcia Espino
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Lights
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Florian Arnholdt
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Chorus master
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Alistair Lilley
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Dramaturgy
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Eszter Orbán
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VIDEOS
STORY
Prologue
Venice. Gennaro, a young captain of unknown origin, enjoys carnival festivities with his friends. His closest friend Maffio Orsini tells his companions how Gennaro once saved his life after the battle of Rimini. During this incident, they encountered a strange old man who warned them against the despised Lucrezia Borgia, saying that death comes with her. During Orsini's story, Gennaro falls asleep and is left alone. A masked woman arrives and approaches the sleeping man. It is Lucrezia Borgia. When she recognizes her lost son in Gennaro, she is filled with delight and longing. She seizes the moment to observe him undisturbed in his sleep. Meanwhile, her husband, Duke Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara, watches her with jealousy. He believes Gennaro to be Lucrezia's lover and devises an intrigue to bring him under his power. Gennaro awakens and begins to trust the unknown woman. He confides his life story to her: He grew up in Naples believing himself to be the son of a fisherman, until one day a soldier brought him a letter from his unknown mother. In it, she revealed that she had fallen victim to a tyrant and that he - Gennaro - must never search for her, for his own protection. Gennaro confesses to Lucrezia his love for his mother, though he has never seen her. The two are abruptly interrupted by Orsini and his friends. They recognize the despised and feared Lucrezia Borgia and reveal her identity to Gennaro. Lucrezia tries in vain to hold Gennaro back.
Act I
Ferrara. The jealous Duke, together with Rustighello, watches Gennaro's dwelling where his friends have gathered for a meal. Later, Gennaro's friends provoke him about his relationship with the beautiful Lucrezia. In a rebellious act, he defaces the Borgia coat of arms. When Lucrezia learns of this deed, she turns to her husband in fury and vindictiveness, demanding the death penalty for the perpetrator. But when it emerges that Gennaro is the culprit, she pleads with Alfonso for mercy. He ignores her pleas, gives Gennaro poisoned wine to drink, and is convinced he has thereby sealed his fate. Secretly, however, Lucrezia saves her son: she administers an antidote and implores him to flee and leave Ferrara forever.
Act II
Ferrara. Gennaro's resolve to follow Lucrezia's plea is thwarted by Orsini and his friends. They persuade him to attend Princess Negroni's feast before his departure. But the festive mood quickly turns to horror when Lucrezia appears and reveals to the guests that she has poisoned all the wine they have already drunk, out of revenge. Lucrezia's vindictiveness turns to horror when she realizes that Gennaro has remained in Ferrara against her pleas and that her revenge will also be his doom. She reveals to him that he is a Borgia. She implores him to accept the antidote once more. But Gennaro refuses: he chooses to follow his friends into death and dies in Lucrezia's arms. When Alfonso appears, Lucrezia tells him the truth about Gennaro's identity before she too collapses.
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