In Opera
Giovanna Gray, a tragic opera (tragedia lirica) in three acts based on Jane Grey's last days, was composed by Nicola Vaccai, with a libretto by Carlo Pepoli. The opera premiered on 23 February 1836 at La Scala, Milan, with Maria Malibran in the title role. It was a failure at its premiere, and the work never entered the repertoire.
In reporting the poor reviews received by Giovanna Gray, the Revue et gazette musicale de Paris expressed astonishment that such an interesting and tragic subject had not been set by a composer capable of making it a dramatic success and suggested Meyerbeer, Rossini, or Halévy as possibilities.
Several minor composers did subsequently attempt operas about Jane Grey but with little success.
Antonio D'Antoni composed a version in 1848 for the opera house in Trieste, but it was never performed.
Timoteo Pasini's version, Giovanna Grey, set to a libretto by Giovanni Pennacchi, had a "triumphant" premiere at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara in 1853 with Luigia Abbadia in the title role. It was performed again in Jesi at the Teatro Pergolesi the following year, but did not remain in the repertoire.
Giuseppe Menghetti re-used Pepoli's libretto for his Giovanna Gray, which premiered in Trieste during the carnival season of 1859.
Henri Büsser's Jane Grey premiered in 1891 and was soon forgotten.
Arnold Rosner tackled the subject with The Chronicle of Nine, composed in 1984 to a libretto based on the stage play of the same name by Florence Stevenson. Rossner's work has never received a full staging although excerpts have been recorded.
Read more about this topic: Cultural Depictions Of Lady Jane Grey
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