First performed in 1830, Il Diluvio Universale (The Great Flood) is something of an oddity in Donizetti's output. He called it "a tragic-sacred action". "Sacred" refers to Noah and his ark, "tragic" to erring humanity, here identified as a fictitious Babylonian court where the concubine Ada is in the process of ousting her rival Sela from the affections of King Cadmo. Sela has also converted to Judaism, and the opera homes in on her conflict between religion and desire. The ending questions whether the demands of faith are compatible with life: Sela's renunciation of "the God of Adam" to save her relationship is God's cue to unleash the flood.

Donizetti's imagination wasn't always up to dealing with the complexities of his subject. All too frequently we get the impression of an opera and an oratorio running side by side. Noah and his family worship God in beautiful, closely woven ensembles, while the Babylonians are given extravagant coloratura. There's little sense throughout of an impending cataclysm: the deluge proves to consist of an anticlimactic series of arpeggiated figurations round a single minor chord.

Opera Rara presented the piece for this single concert performance at Drury Lane, with Giuliano Carella fierily conducting the London Philharmonic and an impressive, if uneven lineup of soloists. Majella Cullagh was thrilling as Sela. Mirco Palazzi delivered Noah's oracular pronouncements with extraordinary refinement. Colin Lee was the insidious Cadmo, though Manuela Custer's Ada was inappropriately camp. Opera Rara, founded by Patric Schmid, who was sadly taken ill during the performance, and died later that evening, has done more than any other organisation in the UK to restore Donizetti's lesser-known works to the repertoire. Il Diluvio Universale is no lost masterpiece, though the best of it deserves to be heard.