Achilles is a ballad opera by John Gay, first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in 1733, a year after Gay's death, with Gay's associate John Rich as producer.
Achilles is a ballad opera by John Gay, first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in 1733, a year after Gay's death, with Gay's associate John Rich as producer.
The opera is a burlesque parody of the story of Achilles on Skyros, based on legends of Achilles as related by Bion, Ovid, and Statius (notably the latter's Achilleid ). [1] Unsuccessful attempts were made at the time to interpret the work as a political satire (as was Gay's The Beggar's Opera ) but no convincing case has been made for this. [2] Unlike The Beggar's Opera and Gay's other ballad opera, Polly , Achilles uses not only tunes from popular music, but also employs melodies from concertante works of Arcangelo Corelli. [3] Achilles proved popular; the first performance alone brought John Rich over £200, and the opera ran for over a month after its premiere on 10 February 1733. [4]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 10 February 1733 [5] |
|---|---|---|
| Lycomedes, king of Scyros | James Quin | |
| Achilles | Thomas Salway | |
| Ulysses | Mr. Chapman | |
| Thetis | Mrs. Buchanan | |
| Deidamia | Hannah Norsa | |
| Theaspe, wife of Lycomedes | Mrs. Cantrel | |
The opera takes place on the isle of Skyros, (called "Scyros" in the libretto). Achilles is disguised by his mother the goddess Thetis as Pyrrha, a woman, in an attempt to prevent him going to Troy, where she is convinced he will die. However, he falls in love with Deidamia, the daughter of the island's king, Lycomedes. Various misunderstandings follow, including an attempt by Lycomedes to rape "Pyrrha". Lycomedes's wife, Theaspe, seeks to dispose of "Pyrrha" by marrying "her" to her nephew Periphas; at which Achilles complains "I have no sooner escap'd being ravish'd but I am immediately to be made a Wife". Deidamia becomes pregnant, and Ulysses recognizes Achilles. The truth is out and Achilles and Deidamia marry; Achilles then leaves to take part in the Trojan Wars. [6] [7]
In Greek mythology, Achilles or Achilleus was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's Iliad. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia.
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in Australia, North Africa, North America and South America.
The Threepenny Opera is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera, and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill. Although there is debate as to how much, if any, contribution Hauptmann might have made to the text, Brecht is usually listed as sole author.
In Greek mythology, Neoptolemus, originally called Pyrrhus at birth, was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia, and the brother of Oneiros. He became the mythical progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Molossians of ancient Epirus. In a reference to his pedigree, Neoptolemus was sometimes called Achillides or, from his grandfather's or great-grandfather's names, Pelides or Aeacides.
John Gay was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household names.
The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today. Ballad operas were satiric musical plays that used some of the conventions of opera, but without recitative. The lyrics of the airs in the piece are set to popular broadsheet ballads, opera arias, church hymns and folk tunes of the time.
James Quin was an English actor of Irish descent.
The Achilleid is an unfinished epic poem by Publius Papinius Statius that was intended to present the life of Achilles from his youth to his death at Troy. Only about one and a half books were completed before the poet's death. What remains is an account of the hero's early life with the centaur Chiron, and an episode in which his mother, Thetis, disguised him as a girl on the island of Scyros before he joined the Greek expedition against Troy.
The ballad opera is a genre of English stage entertainment that originated in the early 18th century, and continued to develop over the following century and later. Like the earlier comédie en vaudeville and the later Singspiel, its distinguishing characteristic is the use of tunes in a popular style with spoken dialogue. These English plays were 'operas' mainly insofar as they satirized the conventions of the imported opera seria. Music critic Peter Gammond describes the ballad opera as "an important step in the emancipation of both the musical stage and the popular song."
Deidamia is an opera in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel to an Italian libretto by Paolo Antonio Rolli. It premiered on 10 January 1741 at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London.
Charles Coffey was an Irish playwright, opera librettist and arranger of music from Westmeath.
Polly is a ballad opera with text by John Gay and music by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is a sequel to Gay's The Beggar's Opera. Due to censorship, the opera was not performed in Gay's lifetime. It had its world premiere on 19 June 1777 at the Haymarket Theatre in London. A revised and edited version of the score by Clifford Bax and Frederic Austin premiered on 30 December 1922 at the Kingsway Theatre in London.
Achille in Sciro is an opera seria by composer Domenico Sarro. The opera uses an Italian language libretto by Pietro Metastasio. It was commissioned for the opening of the Teatro di San Carlo by King Charles VII of Naples, later known as Charles III of Spain. The work premiered at the inauguration of the theatre on 4 November 1737, Charles's name day. It is based on the story of Achilles on Skyros.
The Song of Achilles is a 2011 novel by American writer Madeline Miller. Set during the Greek Heroic Age, it is an adaptation of Homer's Iliad as told from the perspective of Patroclus. The novel follows Patroclus' relationship with Achilles, from their initial meeting to their exploits during the Trojan War, with focus on their romantic relationship. In 2012, The Song of Achilles was awarded the Orange Prize for Fiction.
Achilles on Skyros is an episode in the myth of Achilles, a Greek hero of the Trojan War. Not existing in Homer's epic poem Iliad, the episode is written down in detail in some later versions of the story, particularly the Achilleid by the Roman poet Statius. The story of how Achilles disguised himself as a girl at the court of the king of Skyros, fell in love with one of the princesses, and married her before leaving for Troy, became a popular topic in arts and literature from Classical times until the middle of the 20th century. The carnivalesque disguises and gender transpositions at the heart of the story were particularly popular in opera, with over 30 different operas on the theme between 1641 and 1857.
Thomas Walker (1698–1744) was an English actor and dramatist.
La finta pazza is an opera composed by Francesco Sacrati to a libretto by Giulio Strozzi. Its premiere in Venice during the Carnival season of 1641 inaugurated the Teatro Novissimo. It became one of the most popular operas of the seventeenth century.
Hannah Norsa was an English Jewish actress and singer, who achieved fame appearing in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera in 1732 and became the mistress of Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford.
The What D'Ye Call It is a 1715 farce by the British writer John Gay. It was written as a parody of tragic plays, with particular reference to Thomas Otway's Venice Preserv'd.
Thomas Chapman (1683-1747) was a British stage actor.
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