Zoraida di Granata is an early serious opera by Donizetti.  It’s set in Muslim controlled Granada in 1480.  The city is under siege by the Spanish and the usurper Almuzir is in control and wants to marry Zoraida, daughter of the former king, but she’s in love with Abenamet, leader of the aristocratic and warlike Abencerrages.  Almuzir makes Abenamet commander in chief of his army and entrusts him with a sacred flag.  If he returns victorious and with the flag he gets Zoraida but if he loses the flag he’ll be executed as a traitor.  Naturally Almuzir has arranged for his sidekick, Ali, to betray the flag to the Spanish.  The victorious hero is going to be executed but Zoraida promises to marry Almuzir if he spares Abenamet.  Then the lovers meet secretly and after the statutory rowing about Zoraida betraying him Abumet exits.  But Ali has overheard the conversation and gets Zoraida sentenced to death for treason.  Only a knight showing up to defend her in trial by combat can save her (that again!).  Of course it’s Abenamet in disguise and he beats Ali who fesses up.  The clan want to kill Almuzir and Ali but Abenamet forgives them and in return gets the girl.

If that’s not enough there are actually two versions; the original of 1822 with a tenor hero and a much revised 1824 version with a mezzo as Abenamet.  Oddly the version presented at Bergamo in 2024, although the 1824 version, is a co-pro with Wexford who presented the1822 version a couple of years earlier so sets and costumes have to work for both.  And in very small theatres at that since the Bergamo recording was made in the Teatro Sociale rather than the larger Teatro Donizetti.

Director Bruno Ravella sets the piece in Sarajevo during the 1992 siege by Serb forces.  In fact it’s set in the burned out shell of the National and University Library of Bosnia-Herzogovinia; a building in the Moorish style (though 19th century) and a principal repository of Bosnian culture.  It works pretty well even if, obviously, some plot elements are stretching things a bit.  For example, when Zoraida is going to be burnt at the stake she’s tied to a pillar with barbed wire and half burnt books are piled around her.  It’s all strangely dark for such a small space.  Though most of the action is clear enough down stage there’s a lot of lurking in the gloom up stage and some scenes are just plain dark.

The music is about as formulaic as the plot.  It’s pretty, everybody gets a few showy arias and the choruses are pretty good.  It’s not quite mature Donizetti but it’s close.  It’s helped here by having Orchestra Gli Originali in the pit playing period instruments (including a fortepiano for recits).  It really makes a difference to the textures.  The performances are good.  Zuzana Marková is a good actress with proper bel canto style and makes an excellent Zoraida.  Cecilia Molinari is an ardent and forceful Abenamet.  She too has fine coloratura.  Konu Kim is suitably villainous as Almuzir and he has proper tenor high notes.  The other three solo roles are taken by students of the Bottega Donizetti, notably a very fine Ali sung by Valerio Morelli.  The chorus is the Coro dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala and they are excellent.  Alberto Zanardi conducts and he can be quoted as saying that in bel canto if nobody notices the conductor he’s done his job.

Matteo Richetti directs the video.  It’s a very small stage but note the lighting issues mentioned above.  He does fine but the “lurking in the gloom” element tends to get lost.  Sound (the usual PCM stereo and DTS-HD-MA) ands video quality are fine on Blu-ray.  The booklet has a synopsis and track listing and useful interviews with Zanardi and Ravella.  Subtitle options are Italian, English, French, German, Japanese and Korean.

This is by no means the worst Donizetti opera I have seen and there’s quite a lot to like for bel canto fans but it’s not up there with, say, the Tudor queens operas.  The production is pretty decent though and the performances are decidedly good so if you are a hard core Donizetti fan it’s maybe worth a look.

Catalogue information: Dynamic Blu-ray DYN58068