Lucrezia Borgia at Deutsche Oper Berlin

Love, hatred, revenge, a missing mother who turns up at the end and, most of all, lashings of poison - such are the ingredients of this tragic, oft melodramatic story adapted by Gaetano Donizetti, from a play by Victor Hugo, for the opening of the 1833 season at the Scala, Milan. Problems with his librettist, differences with the actress playing the title role and not least the cuts demanded by the censor gave the composer more than his usual share of problems, and the cool reception by critics on the opening night did nothing to improve things for Donizetti. But audiences raved about the opera from the start; there were 33 performances in the first run alone! LUCREZIA BORGIA ranked with LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR as one of his greatest triumphs in his own lifetime. And the piece's runaway success was not just down to the material, whose legendary Renaissance duchess, the illegitimate daughter of the future Pope Alexander VI and an influential member of the infamous Borgia family, continues to give flight to the fantasies of writers, playwrights and cineastes like few historical female figures before or since; its popularity was rooted above all in the music. Grandiose tableaux, uplifting ensembles and dramatic final scenes make of LUCREZIA BORGIA a feast for the singers and one of the composer's most enthralling works centring on strong women characters. The title role in this Deutsche Oper Berlin production is taken by the supreme interpreter of Donizetti's women in the present day - the Slovakian soprano Edita Gruberova.