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Adina

Farsa in one act by
GHERARDO BEVILACQUA-ALDOBRANDINI
 

  First performance:
Lisbona - São Carlos Theater
22 June 1826

Critical Edition by
FABRIZIO DELLA SETA

FONDAZIONE ROSSINI PESARO 2000

CHARACTERS:
THE CALIPH, baritone, later discovered to be father of
ADINA, soprano, lover of
SELIMO, tenor, a young Arab
ALÌ, tenor, confidant of the Caliph
MUSTAFÀ, baritone, gardener of the seraglio
Male chorus

The action takes place in Baghdad, in the Caliph's seraglio

Instrumentation: 2 Flutes/2 Piccolos, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Sistri, Strings, Continuo
Performance time: 1h 15m

Adina was commissioned in 1817 by a Portuguese gentleman who was enamored of a soprano who had been singing at the Royal Theater of São Carlos in Lisbon, to whom he wished to make a gift of a new short comic opera by Rossini. The identities of this gentleman and the singer are uncertain, nor is it known why the opera was not performed until 1826. It apparently lay neglected until 1963, when it was revived at the Accademia Chigiana of Siena. Rossini composed four numbers expressly for Adina, adapted three from his earlier Sigismondo, and had recourse to an unknown collaborator for two more. The music is of a somewhat more serious genre than might be expected for a one-act opera, especially one designated a "farsa" (perhaps better considered a semiserious opera in the "rescue" vein), but the opera manages to escape pure conventionality of archetypes and stereotypes and achieve a stylistic unity.

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