La Vendetta

Livret pour les cantates du prix de Rome 1838.

Marcella, a Corsican woman whose husband has been assassinated, anxiously awaits the return of her son, Lucien. She wants him to avenge the foul deed. She hears Lucien coming: he is singing a hymn to the Virgin Mary that mariners sing to obtain protection from storms at sea. Without answering her son’s questions, Marcella bids him kneel and say with her a prayer known to Corsicans who have lost a loved one other than by the hand of God. Finally Marcella tells Lucien that his father is dead. Having obtained the killer’s name, Lucien leaves, swearing vengeance against the murderer.