Il proscritto

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Il proscritto (The Proscribed Man) is an 1842 opera by

San Carlo Theatre
in Naples on January 4, 1842.

It was revived by

Barbican Hall.[1]

Plot

Il proscritto concerns a lost love and political treachery in Scotland during the rule of Oliver Cromwell in the middle of the 17th century. Before the opera begins, Malvina Douglas was married to Giorgio Argyll (a supporter of the Royalist cause); but he was caught up in a shipwreck and was believed dead. Malvina’s mother, Anna, and Anna’s son by an earlier marriage, Guglielmo Ruthven (a supporter of Cromwell), then encourage her to marry Arturo Murray (also a Cromwellian). The opera opens on the day of Malvina and Arturo’s planned wedding.[1]

Roles

  • Giorgio Argyll (tenor)
  • Arturo Murray (tenor)
  • Anna Ruthven (mezzo-soprano)
  • William Ruthven, her son (bass)
  • Odoardo Douglas (mezzo-soprano) and Malvina Douglas (soprano), children of Anna Ruthven's second marriage
  • Clara, Malvina's handmaid (mezzo-soprano)
  • Osvaldo, first among the guards of the castle (bass)
  • One of Cromwell's officers (bass)
  • Dames and knights of the Murray and Ruthven families, outlaws, castle guards, archers

Recording

2022 - Carlo Rizzi, conductor; Alessandro Fisher (tenor), Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano), Ivan Ayon-Rivas (tenor), Irene Roberts (mezzo-soprano), Goderdzi Janelidze (bass), Ramón Vargas (tenor), Niall Anderson (bass), Sally Matthews (soprano), Susana Gaspar (soprano); Britten Sinfonia, Opera Rara Chorus. Opera Rara, Catalogue Number: ORC62

References