Emma D'Antiochia

by Saverio Mercadante (1795 - 1870).

Very much of its time, with a basis of recitative, aria (or duet) and cabaletta, Emma d'Antiochia is a story of passion, unfulfilled love and two suicides: of Emma herself by poison and of her devoted slave Aladino with a dagger. It is the type of story that one finds often in Italian opera from the first half of the 19th-century.

Emma is the former love of Ruggiero, who is due to marry Adelia, daughter of Corrado, Ruggiero's uncle. Emma and Ruggiero meet again after Corrado, Count of Tyre, has taken a new bride, in order to cement an alliance between Tyre and Antioch. Of course, the lady is Emma. Ruggiero realises that Emma is his true love. Corrado, on becoming aware of Ruggiero's unwillingness to marry Adelia, exiles the young man. Emma drinks the poison and dies just after she and Adelia are reconciled in the opera's final duet. Duets for two sopranos were somewhat unusual.

Also unusual is the inclusion of an off-stage 'banda' in the overture. Whether the overture can be called lively, amusing or banal is open to discussion: probably all three. Some of the arias and ensembles make their mark. Corrado's scene, the big duet of Emma and Ruggiero and the final quartet in Act One are worthy of note, as is that duet for the sopranos, but best of all, I think, is Emma's Act Three aria, its beautiful cavatina crowned by an exciting cabaletta.

- From a review by John T. Hughes