L'amore dei tre re
Italo Montemezzi
Cast
Archibaldo: Alvaro Malta
Flaminio: Bonaventura Bottone
Avito: Neil MacKinnon
Fiora: Magdalena Cononovici
Manfredo: Lajos Miller
Handmaiden: Colette McGahon
A Young Girl: Marie-Claire O'Reirdan
A Young Man: William Pugh
An Old Woman: Colette McGahon
Creative Team
| Conductor | Pinchas Steinberg |
| Director | Stewart Trotter |
| Set Design | Douglas Heap |
| Costume Design | Douglas Heap |
| Lighting Design | Graham Large |
| Music Preparation | Kathleen Scott |
| Chorus Master | Alan Cutts |
| Children Choir Director | Sr Mary Walsh I.B.V.M. |
Crew
| Stage Manager | Anita Booth |
The Plot
Time: The Dark Ages
Place: Italy
Archibaldo, the blind king, conquered the kingdom of Altura forty years before the opera begins. After forty years, the Alturan people openly object to the reign of the Germanic Archibaldo. Archibaldo recounts his memories of the thrill of conquest, and his reminiscence equates the invasion of Italy to the winning of a beautiful woman.
The story unfolds as we learn that Archibaldo's son Manfredo has been married to the native Alturan princess Fiora. But Fiora is having an affair with another Alturan prince, Avito. Although Archibaldo suspects Fiora of infidelity, he falls short of proof, since he is blind, and his own Alturan servants do not cooperate with him in uncovering the affair.
In the first two acts there are various scenarios played out with mounting intensity. There are two love duets between Avito and Fiora, and a scene in which Manfredo pours out his love for Fiora and begs her to show him affection. All of these are interspersed with scenes in which Archibaldo questions Fiora. Finally, enraged, Archibaldo strangles her at the end of the second act.
In the final act, Fiora's body is laid in a crypt, and the people of Altura mourn for her. Archibaldo has secretly poisoned Fiora's lips, so that her lover will die. Avito kisses Fiora's lips. As he dies from the poison, Avito reveals to Manfredo that he was Fiora's lover, and that Archibaldo has laid the poison. Stricken with grief at the loss of the woman he loved, Manfredo also kisses Fiora's lips. Finally, Archibaldo enters to see if his trap has caught Fiora's lover, and despairs as he hears the voice of his dying son.
(Source: Wikipedia)