BEATRIX CENCI - Opera in Two Acts and Fourteen Scenes

Washington: Opera Society Of Washington. Very Good+. 1971. First Edition. Paperback. 26 pages; Washington: Very Good+. 1971. First Edition. 26 pages; Clean and secure in original printed wrappers, stapled at spine. This translation of the libretto was commissioned especially by the Opera Society of Washington, D. C. For the very first performance on 10 September 1971 by the Opera Society of Washington in Washington, D. C. , as part of the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The stage direction was by Gerald Freedman, with choreography by Joyce Trisler, and the conductor was Julius Rudel. Beatrix Cenci is an opera is in two acts and 14 scenes by Alberto Ginastera with a Spanish libretto by the composer and William Shand, based on the historical family of Beatrice Cenci, the Chroniques Italiennes by Stendhal, and The Cenci by Percy Shelley. Synopsis: The setting is the Cenci Palace, Rome, in the late 16th century. Count Francesco Cenci, hated by the people and feared by his daughter Beatrix and his second wife Lucrecia, arranges a masked ball at which he intends to celebrate the death of his two sons. Beatrix seeks escape by sending a letter to the Pope with her former suitor, Orsino, who has taken Holy Orders, but Orsino tears up the letter. Dismayed at what the Count is celebrating, the guests leave despite the wishes of Beatrix, who is terrified to be left alone with her insane father. Orsino arrives, lies about delivering the letter, and claims that the Pope has rejected her plea. He leaves Beatrix to be raped by her father. In exile, Beatrix is persuaded by her older brother Giacomo to kill her father; she consents and hires two assassins, Olimpio and Marzio. Lucrecia gives Cenci a sleeping potion and delivers him to the assassins. They mortally stab the Count and hide his body. Months later, Orsino announces that the Count's body has been found, one of the assassins has been killed, and the other has confessed. Beatrix is arrested, bound, and tortured. She is then executed at the scaffold. .; Music and Performing Arts, Most Recent Listing, Most Recent Listing, Most Recent Listing, Most Recent Listing .