The World's Most Famous Operas — Lucia di Lammermoor

The World's Most Famous Operas

Lucia di Lammermoor...

Music by: Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848)
Rendered into Arabic by: Samir Shikhani

An opera in three acts, adapted from Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Bride of Lammermoor"; first produced in Naples in 1835.

The Characters:

• Lord Enrico Ashton
• Lucia, his sister
• Sir Edgardo Ravenswood
• Raimondo, spiritual guide of Lammermoor
• Normanno, captain of the Lammermoor guard
• Lord Arturo Bucklaw
• Alisa, Lucia's companion

Act One

Scene One: The noble houses of Lammermoor and Ravenswood have been bitter enemies for many long years. Edgardo Ravenswood is the sole member of his family left alive: his father was killed, and the castle he inherited from his forefathers was wrested from him. Yet the fortunes of the house of Lammermoor were not faring well either.

In the first act we see Enrico Ashton, head of the house of Lammermoor, discussing with his captain of the guard Normanno and with his spiritual guide and old tutor Raimondo his shaky future: he has not only lost his fortune, but he is little welcome at the royal court. There is no solution to his problem but to marry his only sister Lucia to a man who unites wealth and influence at the royal court of Scotland. That man is Lord Arturo Bucklaw.

But Lucia has refused to marry Lord Arturo. The old guide Raimondo tells Enrico that Lucia cannot think of love while she is in mourning for her mother. Normanno, however, declares his belief that Lucia loves someone whom she meets in secret. When Enrico asks whether he knows this person, Normanno answers that he is none other than the family's enemy, Edgardo Ravenswood. He and his men have searched for him everywhere but come upon only the faintest trace of him... Enrico cries out in anger: "She must be forced to wed Lord Arturo!"

Scene Two: A spacious garden near the castle. Here are Lucia and her companion Alisa by the fountain in the middle of the garden, the meeting place with Edgardo Ravenswood. Lucia's soul is full of fancies, and here she is telling her companion that this fountain was the scene of a crime in the distant past, and that the place is haunted by the ghost of the maiden whom her treacherous lover stabbed there. Lucia adds that she herself has seen the ghost, which warned her of the painful end of the love between her

and Edgardo... But Lucia quickly changes her tone, saying that when she sets eyes on Edgardo all these black fancies melt away.

Edgardo enters and Alisa withdraws... He says gloomily that this meeting of theirs will be their last, for he is compelled to leave Scotland on a political mission that will carry him to France... And although he has sworn upon his father's tomb to avenge him, he thinks of meeting Enrico Ashton to ask him for Lucia's hand. But Lucia persuades him that there is no hope in that. So he agrees with her to keep their love hidden in secrecy, though his heart is torn between his love for Lucia and his hatred of her brother...

The two lovers exchange rings and swear eternal fidelity, and the scene ends with a sung dialogue that opens: "When darkness falls."

Act Two

Scene One: A room in Lammermoor Castle.

Edgardo has been in France for some months, and Enrico, Lucia's brother, has laid his hand on all his letters to her... We learn this from a brief exchange at the opening of the scene between Enrico and Normanno. The latter hands Lucia's brother a forged letter, the object of which is to convince Lucia that Edgardo has not been faithful to the pledge he bound himself to — namely, eternal fidelity to her love. On that day Enrico was awaiting the arrival of Lord Arturo Bucklaw, his candidate for marriage to his sister.

When Lucia enters the hall, her brother Enrico tries to win her over by showing her tenderness and affection and speaking to her of the glory of her house. But she speaks to him only of her despair, pointing to the pallor of her features. Then Enrico plays his last card and shows her the forged letter. All her hopes collapse... At that very moment the footsteps of Lord Arturo are heard offstage. Enrico tells his sister that the house of Lammermoor will collapse unless she weds Lord Arturo, for he has not only lost his fortune but has committed several treasons against the King, and Lord Arturo is the one man of influence at the royal court through whom a pardon can be obtained.

Enrico goes out to receive his guest, while Lucia, heartbroken over the treachery of her beloved Edgardo, tells the kind-hearted guide Raimondo that she will marry Lord Arturo...

Scene Two: A great hall in the castle.

In the great hall of Lammermoor Castle (the castle of the Ashton family) the wedding guests sing the bridal chorus. Lord Arturo enters in his white attire and greets Enrico with a formal salute, and behind him comes the bride Lucia attended by her maids of honor — pale of face, her gaze wandering, weeping... Lord Enrico tries to reassure the bridegroom by saying that Lucia is still affected by her mother's death, whereas the true cause of her sorrow is her belief that her beloved has betrayed the pledge between them.

At her brother's insistence she finally signs the marriage register against her will. And as she does so, a commotion is heard at the far end of the hall... and behold, Edgardo Ravenswood, returned from France, enters the place accompanied by a few retainers. With one swift glance the situation becomes plain to him, and he believes that Lucia consented to the marriage of her own free will and pleasure. Here begins the most magnificent sung scene of this opera, as Edgardo, Enrico, the bridegroom Arturo, Raimondo, Alisa, and Lucia herself each join in a song into which each pours his own feelings: despite his bitter disappointment and his enmity toward the house of Lammermoor, Edgardo finds that he still loves Lucia... As for Lucia, she is seized with astonishment and her soul is filled with despair... Enrico is moved by this tragedy he has brought upon his sister... and the rest express their sympathy for Lucia...

Enrico orders Edgardo to leave the castle... Each of them draws his sword, and blood would almost have flashed but for Raimondo's intervention. Edgardo turns to Lucia and asks her whether she has signed the marriage document; she answers that she has; he flares with anger, returns her ring to her, and demands that she give him back his own.

With an unconscious motion Lucia pulls the ring from her finger and falls in a faint. Edgardo withdraws from Lammermoor Castle under the threats of those present...

Act Three

Scene One: The great hall of the castle.

It is the wedding night of Lord Arturo Bucklaw and Lucia di Lammermoor, who was forced into the marriage by sheer compulsion. The guests are still celebrating the wedding although the bridal pair have withdrawn. Suddenly the old guide Raimondo appears at the top of the great staircase and announces, in tones tinged with agitation and alarm, that he heard cries in the bridal chamber; he burst into the room and found himself before the corpse of Lord Arturo flung upon the floor, with Lucia standing before it like a madwoman, blood still dripping from the weapon she had used to kill him... And in all innocence she turned to Raimondo and asked him where her bridegroom might be.

Only a moment passes before Lucia herself appears, pale of feature, in her nightclothes, the dagger in her hand. Presently she descends the steps of the great staircase, and the guests make way for her, gazing at her in astonishment and pity... Lucia imagines that she is once more with her beloved Edgardo... and imagines, too, that he has discovered her marriage to another. So she cries: "Do not curse me!" and wishes that death would put an end to her sufferings. At the close of the mournful song she sings, her strength gives way and she falls to the ground, and her attendants carry her off. Remorse gnaws at the heart of her brother Enrico for the terrible end to which his scheme has come.

Scene Two: A graveyard near the castle.

Edgardo is in the graveyard, pacing back and forth among the tombs of his forefathers and ancestors, longing for death now that Lucia has wed another, saying: "Before long there will be a new tomb in the family graveyard... it is mine!" From afar he sees the lights glittering from the windows of Lammermoor Castle, and scenes of the wedding celebration dance before his eyes.

But only a few minutes pass before a company comes out of the castle, possessed by grief and sorrow, not by joy and happiness. They tell Edgardo that Lucia has gone mad and is wrestling with the throes of death, saying that his name is on her lips even in her final agony.

That was the first time Edgardo learned the truth of what had happened. And when the faithfulness of poor Lucia is confirmed to him, he hears the death bell announcing her death; so Edgardo sings the melody of the last farewell, saying that they will meet again in heaven. And he draws a dagger and plunges it into his breast before Raimondo can come between him and self-destruction!..