Aria (La favorita)

La favorite began as L'ange de Nisida, written for the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris; when that house went bankrupt in 1840 Donizetti reworked the material for the Opéra, adding a new fourth act and moving the action to the Castilian court of Alfonso XI. The premiere took place on 2 December 1840. In Italy the opera circulated for a century in translation as La favorita, in versions altered to satisfy censors who objected to a king's mistress and a novice monk. The last act, written quickly, contains the writing later singers valued most — Spirto gentil above all.