Lucia di Lammermoor 
Opera in Three Acts
NY Metropolitan Opera
Broadcast December 8, 1956

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Here is a piece of history. I've searched as many places as I can, and this doesn't seem to have ever been released on record, or CD. I have only split the interviews from each act. If someone would like to do the proper splits and reseed, that's OK with me. 


Music by Gaetano Donizetti

Text in Italian by Salvatore Cammarano after Sir Walter Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor

World Premiere: Naples, Teatro San Carlo, September 26, 1835
U.S. Premiere: New Orleans, December 28, 1837
Metropolitan Opera Premiere: October 24, 1883

Disk 1
Announcer/Interview 6:09
Act I 40:22
Total Time: 46:32

Disk 2
Announcer/Interview (Maria Callas & Patti Lapone) 10:05
Act II 35:50
Total Time: 43:55

Disk 3
Announcer/Interview 8:42
Act III 42:33
Total Time: 51:15


Preludio - Percorrete/Percorriamo le spiaggie vicine  
Tu sei turbato!  
Cruda, funesta smania tu m'hai svegliata in petto!  
Il tuo dubbio e ormai certezza  
Ancor non giunse!  
Regnava nel silenzio alta la notte e bruna  
Quando, rapito in estasi  
Egli s'avanza  
Sulla tomba che rinserra  
Ah! Verranno a te sull'aure  
Lucia fra poco a te verra  
Appressati, Lucia. Il pallor, funesto, orrendo  
Soffriva nel pianto  
Che fia!  
Se tradirmi tu potrai  
Ebben? Di tua speranza l'ultimo raggio tramonto!  
Ah! cedi, cedi  
Al ben de' tuoi qual vittima  
Per te d'immenso giubilo  
Dov' e Lucia? 
Piange la madre estinta  
Chi mi frena in tal momento?  
T'allontana, sciagurato  
Sconsigliato! In queste porte chi ti guida?  
Esci, fuggi  
Orrida e questa notte  
D'immenso giubilo s'innalzi un grido  
Dalle stanze ove Lucia
Il dolce suono mi colpi di sua voce! 
Ardon gli incensi  
S'avanza Enrico!  
Spargi d'amoro pianto il mio terrestre velo  
Si tragga altrove  
Tombe degli avi miei  
Fra poco a me ricovero dara negletto avello  
Oh meschina!  
Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali  

THE CAST

Lucia: Maria Callas
Edgardo: Giuseppe Campora
Enrico: Enzo Sordello
Raimondo: Nicola Moscona
Normanno: James McCracken
Conductor: Fausto Cleva

THE CHARACTERS

Lucia: Lucia of Lammermoor is the sister of Enrico. She is in love with her brother's rival, Edgardo, but is forced to marry Arturo against her will.

Enrico: Enrico of Lammermoor is Lucia's brother. He has defeated Edgardo, winning control over the Ravenswood estates.  To restore his waning power, he forces Lucia to marry against her will.

Edgardo: Edgardo of Ravenswood has recently lost control of his family's estates to the Lammermoors. He is in love with Lucia and will do anything to marry her.

Arturo: Arturo is a member of the Bucklaw family, and has agreed to marry Lucia in order to unite with the Lammermoor family.

Raimondo: Lucia's tutor.

Normanno: Follower of Enrico. 

Story Synopsis:

Gaetano Donizetti

In a feud between the Scottish families of Ravenswood and Lammermoor, Enrico (Lord Henry Ashton of Lammermoor) has gained the upper hand over Edgardo (Edgar of Ravenswood), killing his kinsmen and taking over his estates. By the time of the opera's action, however, Enrico's fortunes have begun to wane. In political disfavor, he stakes all on uniting his family with that of Arturo (Lord Arthur Bucklaw), whom he means to force his sister, Lucia (Lucy Ashton), to marry.

ACT I. 
In a ruined park near Lammermoor Castle, Enrico's retainers prepare to search for a mysterious trespasser. Normanno, captain of the guard, remains behind to greet Enrico, who decries Lucia's refusal to marry Arturo. When the girl's elderly tutor, Raimondo, suggests that grief over her mother's death keeps her from thoughts of love, Normanno reveals that Lucia has been discovered keeping trysts with a hunter who saved her from a raging bull. He suspects the stranger is none other than Edgardo. Enrico rages, and as retainers confirm Normanno's suspicions, he swears vengeance.

At a fountain near her mother's tomb, Lucia, fearful of her brother, awaits a rendezvous with Edgardo. She tells her confidante, Alisa, the tale of a maiden's ghost that haunts the fountain and has warned her of a tragic end to her love for Edgardo. Though Alisa implores her to take care, Lucia cannot restrain her love. On arrival, Edgardo explains he must go to France on a political mission but wishes to reconcile himself with Enrico so he and Lucia may marry. Lucia, knowing her brother will not relent, begs Edgardo to keep their love a secret. Though infuriated at Enrico's persecution, he agrees. The lovers seal their vows by exchanging rings, then bid each other farewell.

ACT II. 
In an anteroom of Lammermoor Castle, Enrico plots with Normanno to force Lucia to marry Arturo. As the captain goes off to greet the bridegroom, Lucia enters, distraught but defiant, only to be shown a forged letter, supposedly from Edgardo, proving him pledged to another. Crushed, she longs for death, but Enrico insists on her marrying at once to save the family fortunes. Now Raimondo urges her to consent to the wedding, invoking the memory of her mother and asking her to respect the family's desperate situation. When she yields, he reminds her there are heavenly rewards for earthly sacrifices.

In the great hall of Lammermoor, as guests hail the union of two important families, Arturo pledges to restore the Ashtons' prestige. Enrico prepares him for Lucia's melancholy by pleading her grief over her mother's death. No sooner has the girl entered and been forced to sign the marriage contract than Edgardo bursts in. Returning earlier than expected, he has learned of the wedding and come to claim his bride. Bloodshed is averted only when Raimondo commands the rivals to put up their swords. Seeing Lucia's signature on the contract, Edgardo tears his ring from her finger, curses her and rushes from the hall. Hardly comprehending his words, Lucia collapses.

ACT III. 
The continuing wedding festivities are halted when Raimondo enters to announce that Lucia, gone mad, has stabbed and killed Arturo in the bridal chamber. Disheveled, unaware of what she has done, she wanders in, recalling her meetings with Edgardo and imagining herself married to him.

Among the tombs of his ancestors, Edgardo, last of the Ravenswoods, laments Lucia's supposed betrayal and awaits his duel with Enrico, which he hopes will end his own life. Guests leaving Lammermoor Castle tell Edgardo the dying Lucia has called his name. As he is about to rush to her side, Raimondo arrives to tell of her death, and her bier is carried by. Resolving to join Lucia in heaven, Edgardo stabs himself and dies. 