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Edmea

opera by Alfredo Catalani

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 31, 2024
Entity authorityQ3719404
Source-derived summary

Edmea is an 1886 opera in three acts by Alfredo Catalani to a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni.

Cast of the première

The opera was first performed on 27 February 1886 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

The cast of that first performance was:

Conductor: Franco Faccio

Edmea: Virginia Ferni-Germano

Oberto: Gaetano Ortisi

Fritz: Giovanni Paroli

Ulmo: Francesco Pozzi

Conte Leitmeritz: Napoleone Limonta

Barone Waldeck: Raffaele Terzi

Oste: Giuseppe Tonali

Plot

XVII century: the action takes place in Bohemia, in a castle on the banks of the Elbe river and in its vicinity.

Act I

Edmea is saddened by Oberto's imminent departure on a long journey. Oberto and Edmea meet again one last time and swear by the picture of his deceased mother to love each other forever. Ulmo too is in love with Edmea even though he knows of her feelings for Oberto. He hopes that Oberto's absence will make it possible to win Edmea's heart.

The Count knows and disapproves of the love between his son, Oberto, and Edmea. He decides, by virtue of his authority, that Edmea will marry Ulmo. Ulmo asks Edmea to marry him and live as brother and sister if she cannot love him, but Edmea does not agree.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Edmea” as opera by Alfredo Catalani. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Edmea, opera and Alfredo.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1886—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Edmea, opera and Alfredo providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Edmea”, the useful work is to connect “opera by Alfredo Catalani” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 31, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q3719404. VIAF identifies the subject as 8796151656256108400004. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1886.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Edmea”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Edmea primary sources, Edmea archive and Edmea research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Edmea”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Edmea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.