Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal

Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal was an opera in five acts with a score by Domenico Gaetano Donizetti and a libretto by Eugène Scribe. It had its premiere on 13 November 1843 and enjoyed 30 performances before it was dropped on 2 April 1845. It might have remained in the repertory for a longer period of time if the burial scene in the third act had not cast a pall over the audience by recalling the recent death of the duke of Orléans on 13 July 1842. The work opens with the Grand Inquisitor, Juan…