L'assedio di Calais

Opera by Gaetano Donizetti

L'assedio di Calais (The siege of Calais) is an 1836 melodramma lirico, or opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti, his 49th opera. Salvatore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto, which has been described as " a remarkable libretto, the closest Cammarano ever got to real poetry, particularly in his description of the embattled city and the heartfelt pride of its citizens". It was based on Luigi Marchionni's play L'assedio di Calais (also called Edoardo III), which had been presented in Naples around 1825, and secondarily on Luigi Henry's ballet L'assedio di Calais, which had been performed in Naples in 1828 and revived in 1835. The historical basis was Edward III's siege of Calais in 1346, toward the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. The opera was premiered on 19 November 1836 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. It was dedicated to the Queen Mother, Maria Isabella. It was the thirteenth of the composer's operas to be given its premiere in that house and it immediately followed the previous year's successful Lucia di Lammermoor there. L'assedio received sixteen performances that season, and, since the opera "met the requirements for a royal occasion, with its happy ending, and had an additional bonus in its glorification of the part played by the English queen, Donizetti duly received the King's congratulations". By 1840 it had disappeared from the world's stages and it did not re appear until 1990 at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo.

Following Donizetti's visit to Paris in March 1835 (for his Marino Faliero at the Théâtre Italien), it is clear that he wished to return to that city and to write an opera for presentation at the Paris Opéra, "the most prestigious theatre in the world". Also, given that there was an established tradition of works which demonstrated French solidity and resistance in the face of overwhelming odds, all of the plays and the ballet noted above as being used as libretto sources (and which were incorporated into or consulted by Cammarano for the preparation of the libretto) reinforced that tradition in Donizetti's mind. Therefore, as the preparations for this opera evolved over the unusually long period of five months, it has been noted that everything stresses the importance to the composer of his long term plan Thus, L'assedio became Donizetti's first experiment in the style of French grand opera.

But, in direct contradiction to the French tradition, Donizetti found himself having to employ the "old fashioned Italian convention of the musico", the female singer trouser role which musicologist William Ashbrook states was defined by the composer to mean "a male hero role intended to be sung by a female contralto". When contacts with a favourite tenor with local audiences in Naples, Giovanni Basadonna, were fruitless and when the composer did not consider any of three available primo tenors good enough for the part the run of performances were poorly attended due to a cholera epidemic affecting the city, as well as many parts of Northern and Southern Italy. Though Donizetti called it "my most carefully worked out score", he wrote that "the third act is the least successful Who knows, I might retouch it?" Generally regarded as the weakest, act 3 contains four "engagingly noisy" dances during a scene celebrating the Queen's arrival. Two of these were by Antonio Vaccari, and, according to Charles Osborne, the two by Donizetti are "instantly forgettable". By the end of its initial run in 1836, there had been 15 performances, all of which "invariably included act 3". But it appears that, for the July 1837 performances, changes had been made because the Naples Superintendent of Theatres complained of unauthorized alterations. After three more performances in 1838 and none in 1839, a final performance on 4 February 1840 is thought to have included only the first two acts. L'assedio "dropped out of sight".

In an attempt to have the work staged at the Paris Opéra, Donizetti wrote a letter on 21 May 1837 to that company's new star tenor Gilbert Duprez who had recently returned to Paris after eight years in Italy and who had starred in Lucia di Lammermoor two years earlier. Donizetti wrote that he had written the opera "in accordance with French taste",