1492 epopea lirica d'America

Notes

Composed 1985–89 and commissioned for the Columbus quincentenary. Staged at the Teatro Nacional in Santo Domingo with the Orquesta Nacional and Coro Nacional under Carlos Piantini, chorus master José Manuel Joa, and recorded live across the performances of 13 and 17 October 1992; issued by Bongiovanni as GB 5036/37-2, who also publish the score. Role names and creators come from that sleeve, which is the only detailed source located and which supersedes the online listings where they disagree: it bills Serraiocco as a baritone rather than a bass-baritone, and Gwendolyn Jones as a mezzo-soprano rather than a soprano. The roles carry those voice types, which record how the sleeve billed this cast rather than the range either singer normally sings. Character names follow the sleeve's spellings, which are not always the standard ones: Guacaganarì is more usually Guacanagarí, Bohecio Bohechío, and Padre Boil the friar Bernardo Boyl. Though the subject is Dominican and Caribbean history, the opera is sung in Italian and staged as a conventional Italian opera, reportedly so that it could travel to international stages. Braga researched Dominican history for seven years while writing the libretto and says it holds close to the documented record except in two symbolic departures: Caonabo's death is staged as a confrontation in which he curses Columbus, who is haunted by it at the close, rather than the historical account of his dying at sea as a captive being shipped to Spain; and Anacaona's death is staged as a suicide standing for the end of the Taíno people, rather than the hanging recorded historically. The opera's close draws on Columbus's own Book of Prophecies (1501–02) and stages him asking forgiveness of the indigenous people he encountered, a reconciliation the historical record does not support.