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LA FAVORITE Opéra en 4 actes Composer : Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) Libretto : Alphonse Royer, Gustave Vaëz & Eugène Scribe, after Baculard d’Arnaud’s ‘Le comte de Comminges’ (1790) First performance : Académie Royale de Musique, Paris, 2 December 1840 SETTING : Castile, 1340 PLOT : Fernand, a young novice at the monastery of Santiago de Compostela, has fallen in love with a woman whom he saw leaving church. Despite his superior’s warnings, he renounces the monastic life. However, the woman he has fallen in love with Léonore de Guzman, the mistress of Alfonso XI of Castile (1311–50). Fernand, unaware of this, performs great deeds for the king, who offers him any reward. Fernand asks to marry the woman he loves. The jealous king agrees, and Fernand discovers to his horror that he has brought dishonour on himself. He breaks his sword, quits the king’s service, and returns to the monastery. Léonore, dying from grief, follows him there, and dies
