Organization

Wexford Festival Opera

Conductor

Rebecca Warren

Stage director

Heather Hadrill

Set designer

Lisa Krugel

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Maksym Diedov

Singer

Soprano

Isabel Garcia Araujo

Marie

Corina Ignat

Tenor

Chris Mosz

Tonio

Bass

James Wafer

Sergeant Sulpice

Mezzo-soprano

Carolyn Dobbin

The Marquise of Berkenfield

Emily Hogarty

Conor Baiano

Hortensius

Meilir Jones

A corporal

Stephen Walker

A peasant

Pierre

Judith Le Breuilly

The Duchess of Crakentorp

Spoken

Michael Conway

A notary

French

La Fille du régiment -  (The Daughter of the Regiment)

Wexford

Ireland

National Opera House

Jerome Hynes Theatre

Public

The Daughter of the Regiment

English

Approved

La Fille du régiment Donizetti

As Donizetti’s biographer William Ashbrook has written, ‘No other score by a non-Frenchman for the Opéra-Comique has come even close to matching the record of La Fille du régiment on that stage.’ But then it would appear that when writing for non-Italian theatres, whether in Paris or Vienna, Donizetti always seemed to take that extra little bit of care — see also La Favorite, Linda di Chamounix, Don Pasquale and Dom Sébastien. It may not be possible to claim La Fille du régiment as a more perfect masterpiece than L’elisir d’amore, but it is certainly one of Donizetti’s most beautifully composed operas, full of toe-tapping (and ear-worming) melodies. When it comes to Gallic élan, it’s clear that Offenbach must have known the nimble trio, ‘Tous les trois rénuis’.

The reunited trio here are Marie (the orphan girl brought up by soldiers as ‘daughter of the regiment’), Sulpice (the sergeant in charge of her ‘fathers’) and Tonio (her young Tyrolean sweetheart, who enlists in the French army in order to claim Marie as his bride). Donizetti gave the lovers some of his most famous music, and it is little wonder that the opera’s modern-day revival at Covent Garden in 1966 entered operatic lore for generating excitement of the kind one seldom sees in opera houses this side of the Alps. Luciano Pavarotti pinged off the nine top Cs of Tonio’s ‘Pour mon âme’, and Joan Sutherland no less famously sang Marie’s brilliant cabaletta ‘Salut à la France’.

Premiered in Paris in February 1840, La Fille du régiment notched up 1,000 performances by 1914 at the Opéra-Comique alone, and an Italian opera buffa version prepared by Donizetti himself saw the work gain wide currency. Despite a perhaps inevitable drop-off in performances in the mid-20th century, La Fille du régiment has regained its popularity. But for all its entertainment value, it also had a long-lasting influence, and it’s clear that the intrepid Marie informed Verdi’s portrayal of Preziosilla, the cantinière in La forza del destino. 

With the exception of the Donizetti Opera Festival (Bergamo, Italy), Wexford Festival Opera has produced more works by Gaetano Donizetti than any other opera festival in the world. In particular, Wexford Festival Opera is credited for the rediscovery of L’elisir d’amore in 1952, which has subsequently found its way into the operatic canon.

The Daughter of the Regiment by Donizetti, From (2023/2023), Directed by Heather Hadrill,, Conductor Rebecca Warren, National Opera House, Wexford, Ireland

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues