Esmeralda is an 1856 grand opera in four acts with a score by the Italian composer Vincenzo Battista. With a libretto in English by Charles Jefferys,[1] it was based on Battista's Italian version Ermelinda (1851),[2] which in turn was based on Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
In 1851 in Naples in Italy Battista was at the height of his fame and powers. He had already staged a number of operas at the prestigious Teatro di San Carlo including Margherita d'Aragona (1844)[3] with the soprano Fanny Goldberg, the tenor Gaetano Fraschini and the baritone Filippo Coletti. His opera Rosvina de la Forest (1845) was commissioned by La Scala in Milan.
Cover of the score for Ermelinda (1851)
To a libretto in Italian by Domenico Bolognese (1919–1891) he composed the score for Ermelinda (1851), which in turn was based on Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
The opera opened as Esmeralda at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 30 June 1856 under the musical direction of J. H. Tully[4] and with a libretto in English by Charles Jefferys.[1]
Naples cast (1851)
Ermelinda - Signora Violette Evrard
Guido di Lancry, Captain of the Archers - Sig. Agresti
Giulio Laroche, a poet - Sig. Cammarano
Paolo Fulvi, brother of the Baroness - Sig. Evrard
Baronessa de Gontran - Signora Silvestri
Elisa, her daughter - Signora Eboli
Roben, chief of the Gypsies - Sig. Grandillo
Quasimodo the Hunchback - Sig. Luigi Fioravanti
Morepin, another relative of the Baronessa - Sig. N. N.
Choir of Archers - Gypsies — Nobles invited to the party - the Bourgeois.
Appearance of Citizens and Soldiers
