La Donna del Lago, based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott, is one of the nine serious, dramatic operas that Rossini wrote for Teatro San Carlo in Naples between 1815 and 1822. At the time the opera was produced he had at his disposal not only a great soprano, for whom he wrote with considerable flair, but two expert tenors and a contralto taking the part of the young male lover.
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Colm Tóibín is the author, most recently, of Nora Webster. Three of his novels, The Blackwater Lightship, The Master and The Testament of Mary, were shortlisted for the Man Booker.
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