Elizabethan Crystal Drop Earrings
from the Collection of the Museum of London

Inspired by the time period evoked in Donizetti’s “Tudor Queens” trilogy, which portrays the lives of Anne Boleyn, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I, these crystal drop earrings are based on a collection of jewelry found in the Museum of London.

• Materials: pewter with gold finish, epoxy, and faceted quartz
• Gift Box Included

"Tudor Queens" Trilogy

Donizetti’s “Tudor Queens” trilogy, portrays the lives of Anne Boleyn, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I.

Anna Bolena
World premiere: Milan, Teatro Carcano, 1830.
The first of Donizetti’s operas to achieve wide success, Anna Bolena is based on the historical episode of the fall and death of England’s Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. While many operas use history as a point of departure for storytelling, Anna Bolena stays closer to real events than most. The lead role was created by Giuditta Pasta, a great prima donna of her day who would also sing the premiere of Bellini’s Norma the following year.

Maria Stuarda
World premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1835.
Maria Stuarda is a searingly dramatic setting of Friedrich Schiller’s play about Mary, Queen of Scots, and her political and personal rivalry with Queen Elizabeth I of England. While based relatively closely on historical characters and events, the opera’s central scene is fictional: the highly emotional meeting of the queens that concludes the first act (originally invented by Schiller) never took place. It’s a dramatic device that brilliantly highlights the two women’s contrasting characters.

Roberto Devereux
World premiere: Naples, Teatro San Carlo, October 28, 1837
First performed two years after Maria Stuarda and Lucia di Lammermoor, Roberto Devereux shows Donizetti at the height of his musical and dramatic powers. The opera’s story was inspired by a historical incident—the execution for treason of Robert Devereux, the favorite of Queen Elizabeth I—but, as in many works of the time, history is used merely as a springboard from which the operatic imagination can soar. Roberto Devereux mirrors the successful structure of the earlier Lucia di Lammermoor: a first act that lays out the issues at stake and introduces the musical language; a second act fashioned as a single dramatic arc; and three intense shorter scenes for the final act.