LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
In Lucia di Lammermoor Lord Enrico Ashton, having nearly destroyed the Ravenswood clan, is infuriated when he discovers his sister Lucia’s secret love for Edgardo, the sole remaining Ravenswood. In Edgardo’s absence, Enrico contrives to persuade Lucia that Edgardo has abandoned her for another, and arranges her marriage to Lord Bucklaw. After the fateful wedding papers are signed, Edgardo appears and accuses Lucia of betrayal. On her wedding night Lucia comes unhinged, murders her new husband, and then dies herself, evidently of an overheated imagination. This action gives us the celebrated mad scene, favored by coloratura sopranos and their partisans for more than a century. On learning of her death, Edgardo commits suicide to join her. Not very dramatically believable perhaps, but so what? Donizetti was only looking for striking vignettes and a chance for some relatively exotic costumes and scenery so that with a few broad brush strokes the background could be taken care of. Then Donizetti’s melodic gift could fill in the foreground. With this in mind, Lucia di Lammermoor can provide an exhilarating and reasonably short evening.
