`Lost' Donizetti opera scored by Music Faculty

Professor Parker and the undergraduates working on the opera

An opera by the nineteenth-century Italian composer, Donizetti, resurrected by Professor Roger Parker and four undergraduates from the Music Faculty, will be performed this month by the Royal Opera House. A 300-page autograph manuscript of the hitherto unknown Donizetti opera was discovered in the archives of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in the 1980s. Called Elisabetta, it tells the story of a young woman who, in a quest to clear her exiled father's name, makes a difficult journey from Siberia to Moscow, braving marauding Tartars, dangerous river crossings, and floating tombs along the way. Professor Parker was asked to take on the complicated task of turning Donizetti's chaotic and much-revised score into something that could be played by modern performers. Third-year undergraduates—Ms Helen Jeffries, Mr David Lindup, Ms Lucie Middlemiss (all St Hugh's College), and Ms Vicky Smith (Exeter)—helped with the editing process which involved putting every note into a computer and then making a coherently-edited text and orchestral parts. Professor Parker said: `The manuscript we worked on bore traces of several unfinished versions of the opera, one in French, one in Italian and even one with stretches of Neapolitan dialect. So, the always difficult task of deciphering and editing Donizetti was made worse by the presence of these multiple versions.' The result of their work is an 800-page, full orchestral score which the Royal Opera House will perform with an international cast, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, at the Royal Festival Hall on 16 December. Professor Parker and his team are attending rehearsals and presenting a pre-performance talk about their work.