Anna Bolena is a tragic opera in two acts composed by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto recounting the life of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII.
It is one of four operas by Donizetti dealing with the Tudor period in English history, Anna Bolena (1830), Maria Stuarda (named for Mary, Queen of Scots) and Roberto Devereux (1837, named for a putative lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England). The leading female characters of the latter three operas are often referred to as "the Three Donizetti Queens."
Anna Bolena premiered on December 26, 1830 at the Teatro Carcano in Milan, to "overwhelming success."
Cast:
Anna Bolena – Beverly Sills
Jane Seymour – Shirley Verrett
Lord Percy – Stuart Burrows
Julias Rudel – conductor
DG - 1973