Lucia di Lammermoor

Fugitive ghosts and a bitter feud between two families form the background to Donizetti’s mesmerising Gothic tale of madness and forced marriage,Lucia di Lammermoor.

Donizetti’s adaption of Sir Walter Scott’s Gothic novel of feuding families, The Bride of Lammermoor, has mesmerised audiences since its premiere in 1838. Where Scott’s heroine Lucy Ashton has but one line of dialogue, Donizetti’s Lucia is given voice and character in two of the greatest bel canto arias, first narrating the legend of the ghost of a girl murdered by one of the Ravenswood family, then spiralling into fantasy in the famous Mad Scene that follows her forced marriage to a man she does not love. Lucia’s story, together with the darkness and luminescence of Donizetti’s music, captivated the imaginations of authors including Flaubert, Tolstoy and Forster, and continues to cast a spell.