The following activities will help familiarize your students with the plot of Lucia di Lammermoor, forge connections between a variety of classroom subjects, and creative responses to the opera. They are designed to be accessible to a wide array of ages and experience levels.

Legend Has It …
Invite your students to brainstorm some urban legends or myths they know. Ask them to embellish this story however they’d like, and then invite them to create a piece of art, music, or poetry inspired by their urban legend.

It’s All Madness
To learn more about Lucia’s descent into madness—and to identify what does (or doesn’t) make the mad scene in Lucia di Lammermoor unique—introduce your students to a variety of mad scenes from other prominent works of literature and theater. Then, invite students to select a story, costuming, and instrumentation to create their own mad scenes.

One Song, Six Voices
Teach students to sing the melody of the famous sextet “Chi mi frena in tal momento” from Act II of Lucia di Lammermoor, and then invite them to perform it on Flipgrid as their favorite character from Donizetti’s opera. (For tips on how to help students construct a six-part virtual ensemble, see the Google Classroom.)

COMMON CORE CONNECTIONS
These activities directly support the following ELA-Literacy Common Core Strands:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.9
Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.11b
Recognize and illustrate social, historical, and cultural features in the presentation of literary texts.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions