Maria Stuarda - Background

Background

Although Giuseppe Bardari (1817–1861), was the librettist for Maria Stuarda, he was not Donizetti's first choice because, at that point, he was only 17 years old, and was a student with no experience. Thus, Donizetti had the opportunity to work closely with him, or to even write entire scenes by himself.

The story is loosely based on the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Schiller had invented the confrontation of the two Queens, who in fact never met. The libretto adds the love story of Mary Stuart and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, which has no basis in fact. At the time of the events portrayed, Dudley was actually 55, Elizabeth was 53 and Mary was 44.

When forced to simplify part of the music for the original Elisabetta, Donizetti scribbled on the margin "But it's ugly!", and further on refused a change, writing "Do it, and may you live for a hundred years!"

It is one of a number of operas by Donizetti which deal with the Tudor period in English history, including Anna Bolena (named for Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn), Roberto Devereux (named for a putative lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England) and Il castello di Kenilworth. The lead female characters of the operas Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux are often referred to as the "Three Donizetti Queens".