Opera in UK debut after 200 years

Published on Friday 29 April 2011 15:50

A DRAMATIC opera will be performed for the first time in the UK almost 200 years after its completion.

La Prigione di Edimburgo (Imprisoned in Edinburgh) is based on Sir Walter Scott's Heart of Midlothian and is a tale of madness, kidnap and imprisonment in the city's underworld in the 19th century.

It was composed by Federico Ricci at a time when Scottish literature was hugely popular in Italy.

But there are no known records of the opera having been performed anywhere in the world since 1865.

The rare manuscript for the opera was uncovered by Neil Metcalfe, musical director of Edinburgh Grand Opera, after colleague and director Christina Dunwoodie came across a short extract in a 19th-century practice book.

Mr Metcalfe, 44, who works with various musical organisations in Edinburgh, tracked down the full manuscript to the Covent Garden Library in December. And now the opera will have its premiere on 15 May at the Queen's Hall.

He said: "We had been looking for a piece that was unusual and as we were searching Christina came across one particular aria from the opera in a book of general operatic arias printed in the 19th century.

"It's quite incredible to think an audience may not have heard this since the 18th century."

Between 1838 and 1865 La Prigione was performed in more than 100 opera houses outside Italy.