Antigono is a three act opera seria composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck. It premiered February 9, 1756, at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.[1] The Italian libretto was written by Pietro Metastasio, who was considered to be the most important opera seria librettist. Antigono was the only opera that Gluck ever premiered in Rome. This allowed him to reuse several arias and an entire introduction from some of his other operas, L'innocenza giustificata, Le cinesi, and La danza.[2]
Gluck came to Rome from Vienna after Christmas in 1755. He worked quickly, since Antigono premiered only two months later. The premier of the opera was sold out and the audience seemed to have enjoyed it;[2] several arias and a duet were encored at the end of the show. After the premier of the opera, Pope Benedict XIV awarded Gluck with the title of Cavalier of the Order of the Golden Spur.[3] This was an important honor for Gluck, which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had received previously. During Gluck's time in Rome, he was under the protection of Cardinal Albani.[4]
Because the authorities in Rome had strict rules against women performing on the stage, the entire cast of Antigono was made up of men, including castrati. The opera was written for four sopranos, one contralto, and one tenor, who played the protagonist Antigono.[2]
Plot
The Macedonian King Antigono and his banished son Demetrio are both loved by the Egyptian princess Berenice. Antigono's daughter, Ismene, loves Alessandro, who is the enemy of Macedonia. The opera portrays a violent struggle between Antigono and Alessandro. Typical for opera seria plots, identities and the emotional relations between the characters become confused. Everything is resolved through the forgiveness of King Antigono, and the opera seria ends happily.[2]
Christoph WillibaldGluck was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he gained prominence at the Habsburg court at Vienna. There he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices for which many intellectuals had been campaigning. With a series of radical new works in the 1760s, among them Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste, he broke the stranglehold that Metastasian opera seria had enjoyed for much of the century. Gluck introduced more drama by using orchestral recitative and cutting the usually long da capo aria. His later operas have half the length of a typical baroque opera. Future composers like Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz and Wagner revered Gluck very highly.
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. The piece was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 5 October 1762, in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa. Orfeo ed Euridice is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera seria with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama.
Alceste, Wq. 37, is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck from 1767. The libretto was written by Ranieri de' Calzabigi and based on the play Alcestis by Euripides. The premiere took place on 26 December 1767 at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to about 1770. The term itself was rarely used at the time and only attained common usage once opera seria was becoming unfashionable and beginning to be viewed as something of a historical genre. The popular rival to opera seria was opera buffa, the 'comic' opera that took its cue from the improvisatory commedia dell'arte.
A breeches role is one in which an actress appears in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were the standard male garment at the time these roles were introduced. The theatrical term travesti covers both this sort of cross-dressing and also that of male actors dressing as female characters. Both are part of the long history of cross-dressing in music and opera and later in film and television.
Berenice is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel to a 1709 Antonio Salvi libretto, Berenice, regina d’Egitto, or Berenice, Queen of Egypt. Handel began the music in December 1736; the premiere took place at Covent Garden Theatre in London on 18 May 1737 — but was unsuccessful, with just three further performances. Set circa 81 B.C., Berenice traces the life of Berenice III of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy IX, the main character in another Handel opera, Tolomeo.
Giovanni Carestini was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. He is also remembered as having sung for Johann Adolf Hasse and Christoph Willibald Gluck.
Vito Giuseppe Millico, called "Il Moscovita", was an Italian soprano castrato, composer, and music teacher of the 18th century who is best remembered for his performances in the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck.
Caterina Gabrielli, born Caterina Fatta, was an Italian coloratura singer. She was the most important soprano of her age. A woman of great personal charm and dynamism, Charles Burney referred to her as "the most intelligent and best-bred virtuosa" that he had ever encountered. The excellence of her vocal artistry is reflected in the fact that she was able to secure long-term engagements in three of the most prestigious operatic centers in her day outside of Italy.
Antonia Margherita Merighi was an Italian contralto active between 1703 and 1744 and known for her performances in operas by George Frideric Handel.
Antigono is an 18th-century Italian opera in 3 acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček composed to a libretto by the Italian poet Metastasio first produced in 1744 with music of Johann Adolf Hasse. This opera belong to the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria. For a performance in the 1780s, it would only be expected that a libretto by Metastasio would be abbreviated and altered to suit contemporary operatic taste. The cuts and changes in the text made for the performance of Mysliveček's version are not attributable.
Ezio is an opera seria from the Early Classical Period in three acts composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, staged in 1750 and revised in 1763.
Ipermestra (Hypermnestra) is an opera by the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. It takes the form of an opera seria in three acts. The Italian-language libretto is by Pietro Metastasio. The opera premiered on 21 November 1744 at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice. Ipermestra is the first of Gluck's operas to survive complete.
La corona is an opera by the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. It takes the form of an azione teatrale in one act. The Italian-language libretto is by Pietro Metastasio. The opera was intended to celebrate the name day of Emperor Francis I on 4 October 1765 but the Emperor died in August and it remained unperformed until the 20th century. It was written for the four archduchess daughters of the Emperor, like Gluck's Il Parnaso confuso, premiered earlier that year at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
Giovanni Ansani was an Italian tenor and composer.
Semiramide riconosciuta is an opera libretto by Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782), written in 1729. It is for opera seria, and accordingly consists of recitatives and da capo arias. It tells a story of the legendary Semiramis, wife of the Biblical Nimrod.
La Salustia is a 1732 opera in three acts by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi to a revised text, possibly by Sebastiano Morelli, after Apostolo Zeno's famous 1716 libretto Alessandro Severo, which was also later adapted by Handel. The production was marred when the leading man Nicolo Grimaldi "Nicolini" fell fatally ill before the performance and an inexperienced substitute Gioacchino Conti "Gizziello" had to be called in at the last minute. La Salustia was Pergolesi's first opera seria. The story is based on the life of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus and his wife Sallustia Orbiana.
Michael Spyres is an American operatic baritenor. He is particularly associated with the bel canto repertoire, especially the works of Rossini, and heroic roles in French grand opera.
Caterina Aschieri, also known as La Romanina, was an Italian opera singer. A soprano, she premiered a number of roles in the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck.
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