Adina (opera)

Composition history#

Adina was commissioned in 1818 by Diego Ignazio de Pina Manique, police superintendent of Lisbon and inspector of Portuguese theatres. Not all of the music is entirely original. According to the 2001 critical edition of the score by Fabrizio della Seta, “Rossini composed anew only four of the work’s nine numbers: the Introduction, the disarming Cavatina for Adina “Fragolette fortunate” (Lucky little strawberries), the Quartet, and the Finale; for three others he turned to the opera Sigismondo written in 1814; the remaining two were written by a collaborator.”

Performance history#

There is no apparent explanation for the eight-year gap between its completion in 1818 and its first performance in 1826. It was not revived until 1963, when it was performed at the Accademia Chigiana of Siena. The music of Adina has been described as “somewhat more serious genre than might be expected for a one-act opera, especially one designated a farsa (perhaps better considered a semi-serious opera in the ‘rescue’ vein)” with the opera itself managing “to escape pure conventionality of archetypes and stereotypes and achieve a stylistic unity.” but also “…a winning reminder that he had not lost his old skill as a composer of farse.”

References#

Notes Sources * * * * *

External links#

• *Plot description at the Rossini Opera Festival homepage