Tag Archives: Anna Bolena

As any music historian will tell you, composer Gaetano Donizetti didn’t intend his three operas about Tudor queens as a trilogy. Written in separate years with different librettists, the operas focus on climactic and at times highly fictionalized moments in the lives of Anne Boleyn in “Anna Bolena,” Mary Queen of Scots in “Maria Stuarda” and Queen Elizabeth I in “Roberto Devereux.” While long looked upon individually as proving grounds for the greatest divas of our time, the trio was forever linked when Beverly Sills sang all three roles with the New York City Opera in the 1970s. Jumping forward …

The opening night performance of Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena” heralded the best all-around production of an Italian opera staged thus far this season by Chicago’s Lyric Opera. I was a bit surprised, because historically, typical Bel Canto works like this one are treated a little like orphans or grumpy uncles — “You’re welcome to sit at the table, but please, take a seat at the other end!” But then again perhaps “Anna Bolena” is not all that typical a Bel Canto opera after all. While most definitely a “number” opera (that is, one vocal or choral stand-alone piece strung together one …