Il paria
Il paria (The Outcast) is an opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on Le Paria by Casimir Delavigne and Michele Carafa's Il paria with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi.
| Il paria | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Gaetano Donizetti | |
Donizetti as a young man | |
| Librettist | Domenico Gilardoni |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | La Paria by Casimir Delavigne |
| Premiere | 12 January 1829 Teatro San Carlo, Naples |
Completed in the winter of 1828, it was first performed on 12 January 1829 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples. The opera had modest success, with six performances and Donizetti was not satisfied. In a letter to his father he announced his intentions to revise it, but the idea was abandoned.
The scholar William Ashbrook, has called this work "Donizetti's finest achievement up to this point", praising the adhesion of the vocal writing to the dramatic situations and the sense of proportions, stressing in particular the use of a quartet instead of the classic final. According to Ashbrook, the limited luck of Paria is due in large part to the libretto, with its numerous dramatic flaws, and lack of a final decisive dramaturgy.
Some portions were re-used in other works by Donizetti, including Lucrezia Borgia, Anna Bolena, La romanziera e l'uomo nero, Torquato Tasso, and Le duc d'Albe, as well as in Il diluvio universale.