L’assedio di Calais

(Source: the action described is taken from the events portrayed in the Opera Rara recording from 1988. Variations are noted in indented brackets.) Scene 1: Outside the walls of Calais at night While the English soldiers besieging the city are asleep, Aurelio climbs down from the city walls, steals some loaves of bread, and attempts to climb back up to the top. But when one of the soldiers is disturbed by the sounds he is making, all come awake and immediately take chase. In an opening chorus, they describe how he escapes by leaping into the sea and swimming away. For its 2013 performances of the work, English Touring Opera performed this version. Its on-line synopsis describes the action as follows: Edoardo, leader of the besieging army, is impatient for victory over the city’s defenders. He knows that he must take the city to win the campaign and enhance his own reputation. He exhorts his lieutenant Edmondo to demand hostages in exchange for sparing the city’s complete destruction. Edmondo says that this strategy is in motion.] Scene 2: Inside the Municipal Palace of Calais Aurelio's father, Eustachio, the Mayor of Calais, is unhappy. He sadly comments on the condition of the people inside the walls and their lamentations: "Help, food, hope….everything / Is lost to us except love of our country". Further, he states that he has not seen his son. Eleonora, Aurelio's wife, enters exclaiming that all is lost: his son, her husband has been seen trying to escape from the Englis…

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