Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff

La Favorite (Donizetti)

Also known as: La Favorite, La Favorite, la Favorite, La Favorita, Favorita

Culture · Theatre FR / IT

Overview

La Favorite is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti, to a French libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz (with Eugène Scribe), after Baculard d'Arnaud's play Le Comte de Comminges. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 2 December 1840. The Italian translation, La favorita, became the form in which the work was most often sung in Italian houses (Wikipedia, "La favorite"). The story concerns Fernand, a novice, who loves Léonor, the king's mistress, and learns too late of her position.

Marie and this work

The title is in the repertoire of the Nice opera seasons Marie attends, and she hears it in both languages.

  • 20 and 27 April 1873, Nice. She wishes to go to the Italiens for "La Favorite" with Mme Galletti (004.0099); on the 27th she sees "La Favorita di Donizetti" at the opera, "la première fois que je vois La Favorite", and is content with Galletti (004.0195).
  • 1 January 1874, Nice. "Hier on donnait La Favorite": the prima donna is "au-dessous de toute critique" (015.0003).
  • 1 December 1875, Nice. "On donne La Favorite, Pasqua chante comme un coeur" (050.0364); the singer is probably the mezzo Giuseppina Pasqua, which is inferred and not confirmed in the text.
  • 27 January 1877, Nice. She goes to the Opéra to hear Faure in "La Favorite" (068.0840). The source footnote identifies Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830-1914), the leading French baritone of the day; Kernberger (2013) also identifies him as Jean-Baptiste Faure.
  • 17 May 1879. An allusion only: Marie teaches her maid Rosalie to answer "comme dans la Favorite" (085.0087). The quoted line is not identified.

Sources