MARIA STUARDA
Gaetano DonizettiOpera in two acts
Libretto by Giuseppe Bardari based upon Andrea Maffei’s translation
of Maria Stuarda by Friedrich Schiller
Or how ambition can make you lose your mind
Giuseppe Bardari wrote the
libretto for this opera, which skilfully plays with history and
recreates its real-life characters dramatically. They were
presented to the public at its premiere in 1835 wearing all the
finery of those romantic and patriotic times. The drama of two
women in love with the same man also serves to explain a moment in
history when two family crowns faced each other in a final duel:
the death of Mary of Scots by order of her cousin Elizabeth of
England would unify the two kingdoms on Elizabeth’s death, making
the son of Mary, James I, the king of a unified Great
Britain.