There were several Italian versions of this piece, with recitatives replacing the dialogue. These included one by Berlioz, who prepared recitatives for performances in Berlin in 1849. These were widely circulated, but Sir Michael Costa had prepared another version for Covent Garden in 1850. La Scala Milan saw a further new Italian version in 1872, translated by Arrigo Boito with recitatives by the conductor Franco Faccio. What is certain is the version seen in Edinburgh found Max an inappropriate name for our hero, in spite of its Latin origins, and the principal tenor role was known as Rudolfo.
This Edinburgh performance seems to have been the first opera seen by the young Scottish tenor James Durward Lyall. He was taken by his patrons, Mr and Mrs Patrick Allen Fraser of Arbroath, who were paying for his singing lessons in Dundee with a view to dispatching him to study in Milan. Suitably impressed, he recorded the event in his memoirs written half a century later. He would achieve fame (and considerable fortune) under the adjusted name Durward Lely.
Cast as advertised in The Scotsman, 5 March.
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