Performed by the New York Opera Forum, directed by Richard Nechamkin.
"Maria Stuarda (Mary Stuart) is a tragic opera, (tragedia lirica), in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich von Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart. It premiered on 30 December 1835 at La Scala, Milan.
The plot is loosely based on the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Schiller had invented the confrontation of the two Queens, who in fact never met. The libretto adds the love story of Mary Stuart and Dudley, which has no basis in fact. At the time of the events portrayed, Dudley was actually 55, Elizabeth was 53 and Mary was 44.
The King of Naples banned performances of the opera, and Donizetti responded by removing large segments of the score for use in a different work, Buondelmonte. However, Maria Malibran (a famous mezzo-soprano who often sang soprano parts) forced a premiere at La Scala and ignored the censoring revisions, but a ban by the city was enforced. Realizing the impossibility of a run in Italy, a London premiere was planned, but Malibran's death at the age of 28 in 1836 cancelled the project. Except for several productions of the Buondelmonte version, the work was neglected until 1958 when a production in Bergamo, Donizetti's hometown, brought the original work into popularity. The premiere in England was held on 1 March 1966.
When forced to simplify part of the music for the original Elisabetta, Donizetti scribbled on the margin "But it's ugly!", and further on refused a change, writing "Do it, and may you live for a hundred years!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Stuarda
New York City, NY; NYC