by Giuseppe Verdi (libretto by Piave revised by Boito)
seen at Covent Garden on 10 December 2018
Henrik Nánási conducts Carlos Álvarez as Simon Boccanegra, Hrachuhi Bassenz as Amelia, Francesco Meli as Gabriele and Ferrucio Furlanetto as Fiesco in a revival of Elijah Moshinsky's 1991 production (sets by Michael Yeargan) of Simon Boccanegra, an opera loosely based on political machinations in 14th century Genoa.
The opera is full of intrigue and confusion, with a missing illegitimate daughter who turns out to have been adopted by a patrician family to keep their patrimony from being sequestered - a family to which another disgraced patrician has attached himself in disguise, unaware that the girl he dotes on as a father is actually his grand-daughter. Simon, propelled from the ranks to be the Doge of Vienna, only discovers that Amelia is his long-lot daughter at the pint when he is about to marry her off to an unscrupulous underling; naturally he stays his hand, but has doubts about whether he can countenance her true love Gabriele, who has been plotting against him.
