If the name Vasco da Gama summons dim memories of some history lesson more than an evening at the opera, it is perhaps because Meyerbeer’s final work for the stage was given a new title shortly before its première, and has spent the better part of the last century-and-a-half better known as L’Africaine … although ‘better known’ may, in this case, be something of an overstatement. As with most of Meyerbeer’s operas, L’Africaine was popular in its day, but had already slipped into obscurity by the beginning of the twentieth century; despite sporadic attempts at a revival – Plácido Domingo, in particular, championed the title role in the seventies – it has remained a rarity both on record and on stage.
However, following the recent publication of a new critical edition and a well-received production in Chemnitz, the opera – with its original…
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