Dom Sébastien

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Dom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal (Don Sebastian, King of Portugal) is a French grand opera in five acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It was the last opera he completed before going insane from Syphillis. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe, based on Paul-Henri Foucher's play Dom Sébastian de Portugal (1838), a historic-fiction about King Sebastian of Portugal (1554-1578) and his ill-fated 1578 expedition to Morocco. It premiered on November 13, 1843 at the Paris Opéra.

1 Roles
2 Synopsis
3 Recordings
4 External links

[edit] Roles

		Premiere, November 13, 1843
Dom Sébastian, King of Portugal	tenor	Gilbert Duprez
Dom Antonio, his uncle	tenor	Jean-Baptiste Octave
Dom Juam de Sylva, Grand Inquisitor	basso profundo	Nicholas-Prosper Levasseur
Dom Louis, Spanish ambassador	tenor
Camoëns, soldier and poet	baritone	Paul Barroilhet
Ben-Selim, governor of Fez	bass	Hippolyte Brémont
Abayaldos, leader of the Arab tribe	baritone	Jean Etienne Massol
Zayda, his betrothed	mezzo-soprano	Rosina Stoltz
Dom Henrique Sandoval, Dom Sébastian's lieutenant	bass	Ferdinand Prévost
Ladies and gentlemen of the Court, Portuguese soldiers and sailors, Arab soldiers and women, members of the Inquisition

[edit] Synopsis

Act I: in Lisbon, Portugal: The Christian king, Dom Sebastian, leaves his uncle Dom Antonio to rule Portugal while he and his entourage (including the idealistic poet Camoëns and the Moor princess Zayda, whom he had rescued from being burnt at stake for trying to escape the monastery she had resided in since her conversion to Christianity (O mon Dieu, sur la terre), and intends to return her to her father Ben-Selim) go on a crusade against the Moors of Africa.

'Act II: in Morrocco, Africa: The reunion between Zayda and Ben-Selim is dampened by her refusal to marry the Moorish chief Abayaldos. Abayaldos leads the Moor to battle against Sebastien's force and wipe them out. The wounded Sebastien's life is saved only when his lieutenant Dom Henrique presents himself to Abayaldos as Sebastien before expiring from his wounds, and Zayda pleads for the Christian 's life in return to her consent to marry Abayaldos, under the guise that her life was saved by a Christian during her captivity in Portugal, and now she must return the favor. Sebastien is left on the battlefield a broken man (Seul sur la terre).

Act III: in Lisbon: Camoëns survived the battle and returned to Lisbon (O Lisbonne, o ma patrie!), he learns that the Regent Dom Antonio, had aligned himself with the Spanish Grand Inquisitor Dom Juam de Sylva, and usurped the throne. At the public square he runs into Sebastien, just as the mock funeral procession for the supposedly dead king passes by. Camoëns causes a commotion in his outrage, and Sebastien is recognized when he intervenes. Abayaldos recognizes him instead as a lowly Christian whose life he had spared on the battlefield. Sebastien is jailed as an imposter.

Act IV: Sebastien is tried in court. Zayda proves her love for him by testifying to his true identity and how he had escaped death in Africa. Abayaldos angrily accuses her of infidelity, and both Sebastien and Zayda are jailed (she for 'treason'). Eager to legitimize his alliance with Spain, Dom Antonio and Dom Juan de Sylva offers Zayda to spare Sebastien's life if she could convince him to sign the official instrument selling Portugal to Spain. After his initial refusal, Sebastien signs the document, to Zayda's indignation. She runs off to throw herself to the sea, but when Sebastien catches up with her on the top of the tower they find Camoëns in a boat attempting a rescue. Sebastien and Zayda are discovered half way down the rope to the boat, and plung to their death when it is slashed. Camoëns is mortally wounded by gunfire, and the opera ends with the lost of Portuguese independence as the Spanish fleet appears on the horizon.

[edit] Recordings

Opera Rara CD (live recording from Sep 2005 performance at ROH). Mark Elder: Giuseppe Filianoti, Simon Keenlyside, Vesselina Kasarova, Carmelo Corrado-Caruso).