Civil Strife And Individual Madness
If
I Puritani is set to play you can be confident the company has a masterful cast of singers lined up - it is that kind of opera. Known as a production that depends largely on the vocal abilities of the performers and their intrinsic emotional reactions, Lyric Opera's season features the talents of Russian coloratura soprano, Albina Shagimuratova and bel canto tenor, Lawrence Brownlee in the leading roles of Bellini's final work. They will be presided in the pit by Golden Mask Award-nominated conductor, Enrique Mazzola.
Vincenzo Bellini contracted to write a new opera for the Theatre-Italien, set his music to a libretto by Count Carlo Pepoli. Billed as "the rage of Paris" in the 19th Century, it wasn't until 1955
I Puritani re-appeared in America, fittingly premiering in Chicago.
What is I Puritani about?
I Puritani takes place during the mid-17th century English Civil War, a conflict that resulted in a country divided between supporters of the Crown (the Royalists) and the Parliamentarians (the Puritans). A young, emotionally unstable Puritan woman, (Shagimuratova as Elvira) falls for a Royalist cavalier, (Brownlee as her beloved, Arturo). Precipitated by what she believes to be her fiance's unfaithfulness and subsequent abandonment, the frail Elvira slips in and out of reality consumed by madness. In time, Arturo returns and gives the honorable reason for his absence - he was really saving the exiled Queen. Realizing that he still loves her, Elvira snaps back to sanity but Arturo is still under threat as a Royalist... that is until a general amnesty permits a happy ending!