A child born out of wedlock, to the daughter of a wealthy family, is hidden away by her father until the two of them can be reunited. He puts her into the care of an old lady, while he is working at sea. When the old lady watching over her dies, the young girl wanders until no one could find her.
Her distraught father tries to visit the child’s mother, but she is being kept from him by her family. Before he has chance to see her again, she dies. Now, the two distraught fathers cannot make amends until the grandfather can hold his granddaughter in his arms.
Twenty-five years later, in a convent near Pisa, another family loses their daughter. An orphan girl steps in to take her place so that family’s fortune does not go to the state. A man who remembers the loss of his own daughter takes her in, and protects her. In a story of corruption, plotting, vengeance, and suspense, a lost daughter is found and reunited with her father, and her grandfather, despite being under their protection all along.
Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra is an opera deeply set in the historical political turmoil of Genoa in the years 1339-1363, but at its heart it is a story of familial love and grief which transcends history.
Simon Boccanegra guide sections
