Admin

Organization

Singer

Soprano

Miren Urbieta-Vega

Estrella

Mezzo-soprano

Cristina Faus

Violante

Baritone

Damián del Castillo

Fernando IV

Tenor

José Bros

Don Pedro de Carvajal

Bass-baritone

Fernando Radó

Don Juan de Carvajal

Gerardo López

Don Rodrigo

Vicenç Esteve

Paje

Gerardo Bullón

Pregonero

Conductor

José Miguel Pérez-Sierra

Chorus master

Andrés Máspero

Teatro Real de Madrid

Others

Coro Intermezzo

Orchestra

Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid

Spanish

Don Fernando, el emplazado

Madrid

Spain

Teatro Real

Sala Principal

Public

English

Approved

The mysterious death of King Ferdinand IV of Castile was the subject for this opera in which bel canto tradition fused with the innovations of Gounod and Meyerbeer, stars of the so-called “French-German school”, so new to the opera horizon in Madrid. With this combination, the Biscayan Valentín de Zubiaurre emerged as the great promise of Spanish Romantic opera during the patriotic years following the Glorious Revolution. After winning the National Music Competition in 1869, Don Fernando, el Emplazado premiered with a Spanish libretto in Madrid at the Teatro Alhambra, two years before it was staged in Italian at the Teatro Real, in April 1874. The protagonist for that occasion was tenor Enrico Tamberlick, who had sung the first Álvaro of La forza del destino and debuted the role of Jorge in the opera version of Marina. According to a critic of the time, Peña y Goñi, the score possessed “instinctive dramatic warmth, passionate rhythm and an orchestration which is, at once, delicate and rowdy”. Thanks to the research effort of the Instituto de Ciencias Musicales of the Universidad Complutense (Madrid), the Teatro Real does justice to its own history and that of Lyrical art in Spanish Romanticism.

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble