The final chapter discusses the opera’s initial reception by nineteenth-century audiences and its future legacy. As many scholars have shown, regardless of its popularity today, the ‘mad scene’ in Act III was not popular in the years following the premiere in 1835. In fact, it was the character Edgardo and his music that received the most praise from audiences and critics alike. Chapter 7 sets out to answer why this was the case by presenting key critical reviews of the work, including those in Naples and Paris. Paris is a rather telling example, for Lucia appeared in three different versions: the original Italian work at the Théâtre-Italien (1837), a French-language version at the Théâtre de la Renaissance (1839) and a French grand opéra version with ballet at the Paris Opéra (1846). In addition to its reception in the press, Chapter 7 also discusses Lucia’s popularity with publishers of opera selections for the salon and the opera’s auspicious appearance in Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857). Such reception points to the extent of the opera’s success outside the opera hall and serves as further evidence of Lucia in the everyday consciousness of European audiences.

In Act III, Lucia, who throughout the opera is increasingly showing signs of mental derangement, murders Arturo, the man who her brother arranged for her to marry. To highlight Lucia’s confused mental state, Donizetti composes a multi-sectional aria interspersed with choruses that begins with Lucia’s memory of Edgardo’s voice (‘The sweet sound’), and ends with a show-stopping cadenza (‘Shed bitter tears’). The orchestral accompaniment to this long multi-part aria (over 20 minutes in length) recalls the music found earlier in the opera, including Lucia’s cavatina, the love duet from Act I and the nuptial agreement music of Act II. In no other bel canto opera does female madness reveal itself to such a degree that we hear in the orchestra the inner thoughts of a madwoman on stage. Lucia’s madness is thus rationalised for the listener as we hear what Lucia hears and yet, it remains a complete mystery for the other characters on stage. In addition, no other bel canto opera in the first half of the nineteenth century that contains female madness has the woman woman commit murder. This plot twist therefore connects with more naturalistic tales of domestic violence made popular in the second half of the nineteenth century, such as in the operas of Verdi, Bizet and Puccini.

Chapter 4 discusses Act I, where the action occurs outside the walls of Ravenswood Castle. Early in the act, Enrico Ashton tells us of his hatred for the Ravenswood family. And when he finds out that his sister Lucia has fallen in love with Edgardo, the last surviving Ravenswood, Enrico is doubly enraged, for not only is Lucia in love with a mortal enemy but she is also destroying his plans to marry her off to a wealthy benefactor. We also learn in Act I that a ghost appeared to Lucia at the mouth of a fountain. Although we never see or hear the ghost, only what Lucia sings of it in her gothic-tinged cavatina ‘Regnava nel silenzio’ [‘At dead of night’], the ghost nonetheless haunts Lucia to such a degree that the aria’s melody returns in Act III. In addition to Lucia’s cavatina, Chapter 4 also discusses the famous love duet, ‘Verranno a te sull’aure’ [‘On the breeze will come to you my ardent sighs’]. The dramatic potency of this duet is quite profound as it parallels the betrayal of the ghost by her Ravenswood lover to Lucia’s betrayal in Act II. In short, the opening scenes of Act I reveal the power of vengeance and death that will engulf Lucia.

Chapter 5 discusses the events of Act II, which begins with Enrico alone in his study and ends with Lucia signing a marriage contract to marry Arturo, the only one who has the power to rekindle the Ashton family fortune. The dramatic pacing of this act quickens from one scene to the next, culminating in a spectacular finale. The main vocal number of the finale is the celebrated sextet, ‘Chi me frena in tal momento?’ [‘Who stops me at this moment?’], a slow vocal number that presents the sentiments of all the principal characters following the sudden arrival of Edgardo at the nuptial agreement ceremony. Donizetti builds the emotional energy of this finale into a musical maelstrom, all centred on the life of a young woman at her wit’s end. Perhaps this is the reason why the music of the sextet appeared in films more often than any other number in the score – a quintessential Italian vocal number in the midst of a cantabile–cabaletta format, with duelling melodies that tug at the emotional heartstrings of the listener.