Il borgomastro di Saardam
(The Mayor of Saardam)

by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848).
Opera buffa in two acts. Libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, derived from the livret by Mélesville, Merle and de Boirie for Schaffner's Le bourgmestre de Sardam, ou Les deux Pierres (1818).
Premiere 19 August 1827, Teatro Nuovo, Naples.

The opera was well received in Naples, but at La Scala the opera was an utter fiasco. Bellini, who was in Milan at the time, wrote to his friend Florimo that he heard from someone who attended the rehearsal of Borgomastro at La Scala that 'in the first act there is nothing, in the second a duet that may please, but as a whole the work will have a fiasco.' Bellini's not impartial expectations were completely realised. Elsewhere Borgomastro fared better holding the stage until about 1840.

In fact, Donizetti's score has plenty of graceful moments, but little to engage one's interest for long. Lortzing later set the same story, as Zar und Zimmerman (1837) and that remains the best-known operatic treatment of this subject.

Synopsis

Disguised as Pietro Mikailoff, Tsar Peter (ie. Peter the Great, who actually worked incognito in Holland and Deptford, London, 1697 8) is working as a lowly carpenter in the shipyards of Saardam. He has made friends with Pietro Flimann, also a Russian, who has deserted the army and is also employed as a carpenter. Flimann has fallen in love with the mayor's daughter Marietta, but his lowly status gives him few expectations of winning her, even though Mikailoff has offered to help. The mayor Wambert has learned that the tsar of Russia is working in disguise in the shipyard and comes to identify him. Receiving ambiguous answers from both Russians, who are both named Pietro, the mayor begins to wonder whether he has a pair of tsars on his hands. The problem is resolved when news of a revolt comes from Russia and a messenger from Russia arrives to summon the tsar back to his duties. Before he leaves, the tsar confers a patent of nobility on Flimann, an honour that allows him to wed Marietta.