# Lucia di Lammermoor mad scene



## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Curious if anyone more knowledgeable about the composition and history of Lucia can answer a question. In current productions, the mad scene can be thought of as having four distinct parts - Il Dolce Suono / Ardon gli Incensi / S'avanza Enrico / Spargi D'amaro Pianto. I know the flute cadenza was added by a 3rd party several decades after the Donizetti wrote Lucia, but what about the S'avanza Enrico portion? I ask because I have a Maria Callas version of Lucia and it completely skips over that portion, which is one of my favorite bits in the entire opera. 
_Ah! vittima
fui d'un crudel fratello,
ma ognor t'amai... lo giuro...
chi mi nomasti? Arturo!_
is one of my favorite portions of the mad scene and kind of like a mini-climax to the preceeding 10-12 minutes. But I can't find any evidence that Callas ever sang that portion on any of the YT videos either -- all of her mad scenes seemingly go from Ardon gli Incensi right to Spargi D'amaro. In fact, none of Joan Sutherland's mad scenes contain this scene either, and it only sporadically appears for other singers (could find a single instance for Gruberova, for instance). Was this just a common cut to make, was it taken out for historical reasons (i.e., was that portion added after the original composition as well, similar to the flute obligato), or what?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I know bits of _Lucia_ are often cut but have to admit I haven't noticed this cut in the mad scene in my Callas. Will have to do some research.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I don't know. The _S'avanza Enrico _is normally listed in the official versions and as far as I know has always been there. I'm just perusing my version with Mariella Devia and it is included. Like you said, it's the flute cadenza that was added by bel canto voice teacher Mathilde Marchesi.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

For reference, the Callas version I have doesn't have a lot of identifying info -- bought the mp3 direct from Amazon - but it's listed as the Orchestra e Coro di Roma, and there's applause after _Ardon gli Incensi_ and then it goes straight to _Spargi d'Amaro_

e: looked it up on my old orders, it's this one


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Another example, in an otherwise lovely mad scene (albeit with the first half of Il Dolce Suono cut off)






So it's not just a historical phenomenon as this performance was within the last year or so.


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