L'africaine

The Resource L'africaine
Label
L'africaine
Statement of responsibility
San Francisco Opera Association ; RM Arts ; Meyerbeer ; Brian Large, director ; Lotfi Mansouri, stage director
Contributor
Conductor
Film director
Instrumentalist
Production company
Singer
Stage director
Subject
Language
  • fre
  • eng
  • fre
  • fre
Summary
The great Plácido Domingo in Meyerbeer's last opera. Ines is forced by her father, the Grand Amiral Don Diego, to marry Don Pedro instead of her true love, Vasco da Gama, who is thought to be dead in his last expedition. However Vasco suddenly reappears and announces that he has discovered new lands from where he brought Selinka and Nelusko with him. Being refused the means for a new expedition, Vasco insults the Grand Inquisitor who in return excommunicates him and put him in jail. Ines accepts to marry Don Pedro provided that Vasco is released. Don Pedro decides to explore the new lands, helped in his endeavour by Nelusko, who secretely designs to bring the expedition to its ruin. Trapped in a tempest, the fleet perishes. Only escape Vasco, Ines, Nelusko and Selinka, who appears eventually to be the queen of these far-reached lands. Besides, in love with Vasco, she saves him from a death penalty placed upon every foreigner reaching the shore. But Vasco runs to join Ines in her execution. Moved by this true gesture of love, Selinka set them free and allows them to go back to their homeland, Portugal. Lying within the French Grand Opera tradition, L'Africaine recounts a heartbreaking love story in which faithfulness and devotion are rewarded at the expense of a tragic and deadly dénouement. Abandoned by Vasco, Selinka kills herself, bringing Nelusko in her last journey. Though the last opera of Meyerbeer is seldom produced nowadays, L'Africaine had a great success throughout the 19th century. In a historical production by Lotfi Mansouri, Plácido Domingo and Shirley Verrett embody Vasco de Gama and Ines in Meyerbeer's forgotten masterwork
Cataloging source
FRMTV
Characteristic
videorecording
Date of event
1988
Language note
Sung in French; English subtitles
LC call number
M1500
Other event information
Recorded
PerformerNote
Plácido Domingo (Vasco da Gama) ; Shirley Verrett (Selika) ; Ruth Ann Swenson (Ines) ; Justino Diaz (Nelusko) ; Michael Devlin (Don Pedro) ; San Francisco Opera Orchestra ; Maurizio Arena, conductor
Place of event
San Francisco Opera, San Francisco, California, USA
Runtime
191
Technique
live action

Context

Context of L'africaine

Work of

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