Kings, queens and their favorites ... Or how, in these times of pandemic, our artists are not giving up. Since  Bastarda , the ambitious Donizetti project (on the life of Elizabeth I) is postponed, the team is setting up a new project related to the first, which will be offered to you in streaming form. In two evenings, you can enjoy, from your living room, the best moments of Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra de Rossini and  The favorita  by Donizetti, through the eyes of a privileged spectator - a child who rejoiced to attend these performances. With the bel canto repertoire as a common thread and a fabulous cast on stage, this double production further explores the conflict between love and power through emblematic figures like Elizabeth I.

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THE QUEEN AND HER FAVORITE

In Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (1815), Gioachino Rossini's first opera for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, we find Elizabeth Tudor: after a military victory in Scotland, she learns that Leicester, her protégé, got married in secret. Scenes of betrayal and sacrifice ensue, but finally Elizabeth forgives her favorite and tries to forget that she is a woman, before being queen: “Fuggi amor da questo seno / non turbar più il viver mio. (May love flee my heart and no longer torment my life.)

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THE KING AND HIS FAVORITE

Outside Italy, La favorita is better known in the initial French version that Gaetano Donizetti composed for the Paris Opera (1840). With a few details, the two works tell the same story. With the power struggles between Church and State as a backdrop, Alfonso XI of Castile seeks to get rid of his legitimate wife in favor of Leonora, his mistress and “favorite”. But the usual fine lieto of early 19th century operas (see  Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra ) has meanwhile given way to a tragic outcome ...

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