|
The opera is based on the internationally acclaimed 1958 novel Il
Gattopardo by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957), a Sicilian
aristocrat who chronicled the changes in Sicily during the revolutionary
times of the Italian Risorgimento. Lampedusa’s protagonist is Don
Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, and known as “The Leopard” for his
commanding personality. A member of an impoverished aristocracy, soon
to be obsolete, the Prince reluctantly adjusts to the modern world to
guarantee his family’s future – and in doing so, sacrifices the
happiness of one of them.
|