Il bravo

Il bravo, ossia La Veneziana ("The Assassin, or The Venetian Woman") is an opera in three acts by Saverio Mercadante to an Italian-language libretto by Gaetano Rossi and Marco Marcello. Their libretto was based on the play La Vénétienne by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, which was in turn based on James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Bravo. The opera premiered on 9 March 1839 at La Scala, Milan and subsequently played throughout Italy and abroad. The opera was still being occasionally performed and recorded in the 20th century. and was hailed as an "exciting rediscovery" when it was staged by the Wexford Festival in 2018.

Summary
In order to save his father's life, Carlo has accepted to become a henchman and to serve the government of Venice. When ordered to murder Teodora, he finds that the latter is his former wife : he tried to kill her because he thought (mistakenly) she had betrayed him. Foscari, a patrician, was in love with Teodora, and now loves her daughter, Violetta, but the latter is in love with Pisani, an exiled patrician. The lovers manage to escape, while Teodora kills herself in the hope of saving Carlo's father's life. Carlo, however, discovers that his father is already dead.

Recordings

 * 1976: Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Gabriele Ferro (conductor) (conductor); William Johns (Il bravo), Miwako Matsumoto (Violetta), Maria Parazzini (Teodora), Paolo Washington (Foscari), Antonio Savastano (Pisani), Gino Sinimberghi (Cappello), Loris Gambelli (Marco), Mario Macchi (Luigi), Giovanna di Rocco (Michelina). Recorded live. Label: Warner Fonit
 * 1990: Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Bruno Aprea (conductor); Dino Di Domenico (Il bravo), Janet Perry (Violetta), Adelisa Tabiadon (Teodora), Stefano Antonucci (Foscari), Sergio Bertocchi (Pisani), Leonardo De Lisi (Cappello), Ambrogio Riva (Marco), Giuseppe De Matteis (Luigi), Maria Cristina Zanni (Michelina). Recorded live. Label: Nuova Era