After Rossini's arrival in Paris in 1843 for medical treatment, he was visited by Léon Pillet, the director of the Paris Opera. Pillet begged Rossini to compose a new work for the house. Rossini declined because of his poor health, but pointed out that his opera La donna del lago (1819), which he felt had never been performed adequately at the Théâtre Italien in Paris, would be "most suitable for the French stage, the one that more than the others, had need of your big choruses, your magnificent orchestra, your beautiful staging. ... Now that you have [Rosine] Stoltz at your disposal you would do well to profit by it."[3] However, Pillet was reluctant to present a work which since 1824 in its Italian version was already well known to Parisian audiences.[4]
Rossini went back to his home in Bologna, where in June 1846 he was again visited by Pillet, who was accompanied by librettist Gustave Vaëz, and Louis Niedermeyer.[5] The result (which also involved Vaëz's regular collaborator Alphonse Royer as co-librettist) was Robert Bruce, an elaborate pasticcio, based on music not only from La donna del lago and Zelmira, but also from Bianca e Falliero, Torvaldo e Dorliska, Armida, Mosè in Egitto, and Maometto II.[6] Niedermeyer apparently wrote the necessary recitatives.[7]
Rossini was clearly involved in the collaboration but did not attend the premiere in Paris.[8] The production included a ballet with the dancers Lucien Petipa, Henri Desplaces, Adèle Dumilâtre, and Maria Jacob, and choreography by Joseph Mazilier.[9] The décor was designed by Joseph Thierry (Act 1); Charles Cambon, Jules Diéterle, and Édouard Desplechin (Act 2); and René Philastre and Charles Cambon (Act 3). The costumes were designed by Paul Lormier.[10] It was a moderate success, but the opera was the subject of much criticism from Hector Berlioz, among others.[8]
Nicolas Rivenq, Iano Tamar, Inga Balabanova, Davide Cicchetti, Massimiliano Chiarolla
Paolo Arrivabene, Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia and the Bratislava Chamber Choir, (Recorded from a performance in the Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca, as part of the Festival della Valle d'Itria)
^ abOsborne 1986, p. 288. In his second edition (2007), Osborne gives the date of the premiere on p. 137 as 23 December and on p. 357 as 30 December. Weinstock 1968, p. 238 explains that the premiere was originally scheduled for 23 December, which is the date found in the printed libretto, but was postponed to 30 December because the lead mezzo-soprano, Rosine Stoltz, was ill. See also Le Ménestrel, vol. 14, no, 4 (27 December 1846).
Osborne, Richard (2007). Rossini (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-518129-6.
Tamvaco, Jean-Louis[in French] (2000). Les Cancans de l'Opéra. Chroniques de l'Académie Royale de Musique et du théâtre, à Paris sous les deux restorations (2 volumes) (in French). Paris: CNRS Editions. ISBN978-2-271-05685-6.
Wild, Nicole (1987). Décors et costumes du XIXe siècle. Tome I: Opéra de Paris. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, Département de la Musique. ISBN9782717717532.
