CHARACTERS

Opera seria in 3 acts.(2h 16m) First performed: Paris (Théàtre-Italien), 12 March 1835• Librettists: Emanuele Bidera and Agostino Ruffini (who revised Bidera's text in Paris), after the tragedy by Delavigne (1829), in turn after the play Marino Faliero by Byron (1821). Sources: Casimir Delavigne's tragedy, Marino Faliero (1829), and, secondarily, Byron's tragedy of the same name. Composed for the Italian company in Paris, and Donizetti's first premiere there, Marino Faliero's plot deals with a Venetian conspiracy against the venerable Doge Faliero. Marino Faliero suffered from being found inferior to Bellini's 1 puritani, the other novelty of the same season, and performed by the same stellar cast. A sombre work, it nevertheless contains deeply moving music, particularly in the final scene. The role of Fernando, is very challenging. Donizetti later quoted the gondolier's song that opens Act II in Il Campanello. Synopsis Ismaele Bertucci (baritone), captain of the Venetian arsenal, enlists the support of Doge Marino Faliero (bass) in a conspiracy against the Council. Bertucci, is publicly insulted by a young patrician, Michele Steno (bass). Steno, the doge's enemy, has accused Faliero's wife Elena of adultery with Fernando(tenor), her husband's young nephew. There is, however, some justification for Steno's charge: Elena has fallen in love with the Doge's nephew Fernando, but she has decided to part with him, giving him her scarf as a token. At a masked ball where the conspirators meet, Elena complains of the insulting attentions of a masker of a masker (Steno) who dogs her steps and insults her. Fernando challenges Steno to a duel, setting the square, in front of the church of St Giovanni e Paolo, as the place. There, Fernando waits, willing to die for Elena's honour. As the conspirators gather, the sound of fighting is heard and Fernando is borne in; dying, he asks that his face be covered with Elena's scarf. The conspirators go off to their appointed tasks, unaware that one of them, Beltrame (bass) has betrayed them. While the Doge tells Elena of Fernando's death, the guards come to arrest him. In the Council chamber, when the Doge is condemned to death, he tears off his doge's cap and tramples it. He is granted a final meeting with Elena. He shows her the scarf and asks that it be used to cover his face and Fernando's when they are buried in the same tomb. Shaken, Elena confesses her adultery. The Doge rages, but realising his death is near, he forgives Elena. Elena waits shuddering at the window after the Doge is led away. At the signal for his beheading, she screams and collapses.