Opera Bites: Donizetti's 'Lucia di Lammermoor' features famous 'mad scene'

On Saturday, the Metropolitan Opera high-definition broadcast at the AMC Town Plaza 5 will be the greatest of all bel canto operas ever composed -- Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." The performance will begin at noon. French soprano Natalie Dessay will sing the role of Lucia; she is one of the finest singers on the stage today.

"Lucia di Lammermoor" is set in Scotland, a wild and romantic country wracked by war and tribal conflict. The opera tells the story of a young woman forced into marrying a man she does not love.

Act I takes place in a ruined park near Lammermoor Castle. Enrico and his men are searching for an intruder. Enrico is Lucia's brother and he is angry at her for refusing to marry Arturo. Then one of Enrico's men tells him Lucia has been seen in the company of a mysterious stranger. That man is Edgardo; he is from a family that Enrico hates. In the next scene, Lucia is waiting for Edgardo. When he arrives, he tells Lucia that he must go to France. The lovers exchange rings and bid each other a rapturous farewell.

Act II is set in Lammermoor Castle. Enrico is determined that Lucia will marry, and he forces her to sign a marriage contract. She thinks Edgardo has betrayed her and she is on the verge of collapse. In the second scene the wedding guests are celebrating the upcoming wedding. Edgardo appears and he is furious to discover that Lucia is engaged. In the famous sextet, all of the characters express their emotions and when the sextet is over, Edgardo tears Lucia's ring from his finger and curses her. Lucia is left in total despair and this is the beginning of her descent into madness.

The final act begins in Edgardo's dilapidated home. Enrico arrives and tells him that Lucia and Arturo are married. The two men decide to fight a duel at dawn. Scene 2 takes place in Lammermoor Castle; the wedding celebrations are underway when Lucia enters; she is covered in blood because she has stabbed her new husband to death. She expresses her grief and unhappiness in the most famous "mad scene" in all of opera. The final scene is in a graveyard. Edgardo is waiting to fight his duel when he learns that Lucia has died. He cannot live without her, so he kills himself.

"Lucia di Lammermoor" is based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott. He was inspired by an event that took place in 1668 in which a young woman named Janet Dalrymple was forced to marry a man she didn't love. She killed him and then went insane. Donizetti's genius is that he took this story and turned it into one of the most beautiful operas ever written.

Barbara Herbert is an opera lover and host of KRCU's "Sunday Night at the Opera."