2005 Production
A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera)
May - Hall for Cornwall, Truro
Cascading love duets, smouldering jealousy, political intrigue and an impossible love triangle all culminate in a tragic death. Filled with emotional truth and ardent passion, this was Italian opera at its most expressive and passionate. Based on the assassination of a Swedish king at a masked ball in 1792, Verdi's Masked Ball made its debut in Rome in 1859. Gustavus, the king is secretly in love with Amelia, wife of his best friend and private secretary, Renato.
Whilst investigating claims of witch-craft against the fortune-teller, Ulrica, Gustavus overhears Amelia privately asking for a remedy for a secret love which cannot be returned by one so highly born, and realises that his love for Amelia is reciprocated. Ulrica instructs Amelia to go to the public gallows at midnight to pick a magic herb and Amelia leaves. Gustavus, in disguise, asks Ulrica to read his palm but declares her a fraud when she tells him that he will be killed by a friend.
As Amelia approaches the public gallows she is surprised by Gustavus and in a moment of passion, they declare their love but are interrupted by the arrival of Renato, who warns Gustavus of a plot against him. Instructed to take the veiled woman back without asking her name, Renato is accosted by the conspirators and Amelia's identity is revealed.
At the opening of Act 3 we see Gustavus struggling with a decision to write orders instructing Renato to take Amelia and his family to a distant post, thus conquering his inner passion for what he knows to be morally wrong. Before he can do so, Renato believing himself to have been betrayed by his wife and best friend, joins the conspirators and kills Gustavus. |
