Didone abbandonata (Dido Abandoned) is an opera in three acts composed by Domenico Sarro to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio of the same name which was based on the story of Dido and Aeneas from the fourth book of Virgil's Aeneid . The opera premiered on 1 February 1724 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples.
Didone abbandonata was Metastasio's first original libretto, and Sarro's opera was the first of what were to be more than fifty musical settings of the work. The opera premiered at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples on 1 February 1724 along with a two-part comic intermezzo also composed by Sarro to a libretto by Metastasio, L'impresario delle Isole Canarie . [1] Didone abbandonata was Sarro's sixteenth opera composed for the theatres in Naples and is considered an important example of his mature style. [2]
The title role was sung in the premiere by Marianna Bulgarelli, famed for her talent as an actress. Bulgarelli was also the patron and mistress of the young Metastasio, who was living in her home while he wrote Didone. He intended it as a showcase for her, and according to contemporary accounts, Bulgarelli had considerable influence on the work, especially in shaping Dido's scenes of jealousy in act 2. [3] Marianna Bulgarelli and her Aeneas, Nicolo Grimaldi, reprised their roles on 26 December 1724 at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice for the premiere of Tomaso Albinoni's setting of the libretto, and again on 10 May 1725 in Reggio Emilia for the premiere of Nicola Porpora's setting. [3]
The premiere of Sarro's Didone was very successful, with contemporary accounts reporting the audience deeply moved. [4] The opera was given a second run later that year at the Teatro San Bartolomeo and played in several other opera houses in Italy. Sarro revised the opera (with a text adapted from Metastasio's by Giovanni Boldini) for its Venice premiere on 24 November 1730 at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo. On that occasion, Nicolo Grimaldi again sang the role of Aeneas, but Didone was sung by Lucia Facchinelli. The revised version was dedicated to Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne who was in the audience that night. [5] The opera was also performed in Brno in the autumn of 1734, [6] and its revival at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in 1737 was the theatre's last opera performance before it gave way to the newly built Teatro San Carlo. [7]
Eventually Sarro's opera fell into obscurity and there are no recordings of the complete work. However, on 23 September 2005, a shortened concert version was performed at the Schloss Elisabethenburg in Meiningen by the ensemble Les Amis de Philippe conducted by Ludger Rémy, a live recording of which was broadcast on MDR radio the following year. Several copies of the manuscript score are held in the San Pietro a Majella conservatory in Naples.
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast [8] 1 February 1724 |
|---|---|---|
| Didone, Dido, queen of Carthage, in love with Enea | soprano | Marianna Bulgarelli |
| Enea, Aeneas, a Trojan hero | alto castrato | Nicolò Grimaldi |
| Iarba, Iarbas king of the Moors, who appears as "Arbace" | contralto (en travesti) | Antonia Margherita Merighi |
| Selene, sister of Dido and secretly in love with Aeneas | soprano | Benedetta Sorosina |
| Araspe, confidant of Iarba and lover of Selene | tenor | Annibale Pio Fabri |
| Osmida, confidant of Dido | contralto (en travesti) | Caterina Levi |
Dido (Didone), Queen of Carthage, had been promised in marriage to King Iarbas (Iarba), but fell in love with the Trojan warrior Aeneas (Enea), who had been shipwrecked on the shores of her city. Iarbas appears disguised as "Arbace" to warn Dido that Aeneas cannot become King of Carthage. Nevertheless, Dido refuses to marry Iarbas. Although Aeneas is now in love with Dido, he asks her sister Selene to tell her of his plans to leave Carthage for Italy. War then breaks out between Aeneas and Iarbas in which the Trojan is triumphant. After his victory, Dido convinces Aeneas to remain in Carthage and become her husband. But when the ghost of Aeneas' father reminds him of his duty to his people, Aeneas realises that he must abandon Dido. Heartbroken, she commits suicide as Aeneas and his men set sail for Italy.
Dido, also known as Elissa, was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage, in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre who fled tyranny to found her own city in northwest Africa. Known only through ancient Greek and Roman sources, all of which were written well after Carthage's founding, her historicity remains uncertain. The oldest references to Dido are attributed to Timaeus, who was active around 300 BC, or about five centuries after the date given for the foundation of Carthage.
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.
Davide Perez was an Italian opera composer born in Naples of Italian parents, and later resident court composer at Lisbon from 1752. He staged three operas on librettos of Metastasio at Lisbon with huge success in 1753, 1754, and 1755. Following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Perez turned from opera mostly to church music.
Theatres for diverse musical and dramatic presentations began to open in Naples, Italy, in the mid-16th century as part of the general Spanish cultural and political expansion into the kingdom of Naples, which had just become a vicerealm of Spain. None of the early theaters still function as such, having been replaced by later facilities from the mid-18th century onwards. Neapolitan theatres first built in the 16th and 17th centuries include:
Domenico Natale Sarro, also Sarri was an Italian composer.
Didone abbandonata is an opera libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio. It was his first original work and was set to music by Domenico Sarro in 1724. The opera was accompanied by the intermezzo L'impresario delle Isole Canarie, also by Metastasio.
Didone abbandonata is an opera, or dramma per musica, by Giuseppe Sarti, set to a libretto by the renowned poet Metastasio. The opera was first performed in the winter of 1762 in Copenhagen, and was composed especially for the Danish court of the time. The opera consists of three acts, and the libretto is based upon the well-known story of Dido and Aeneas.
Didone is an opera by Francesco Cavalli, set to a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello. The opera was first performed at Venice's Teatro San Cassiano during 1640.
Didon (Dido) is a tragédie lyrique in three acts by the composer Niccolò Piccinni with a French-language libretto by Jean-François Marmontel. The opera is based on the story of Dido and Aeneas from Virgil's Aeneid as well as Metastasio's libretto Didone abbandonata. Didon was first performed at Fontainebleau on 16 October 1783 in the presence of the French sovereigns, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. After being remounted at court twice, the opera had its Paris public premiere on 1 December 1783. It proved to be the composer's greatest success and was billed almost every year till 1826, enjoying a total of 250 performances al the Paris Opera. Didon had some influence on Berlioz's opera on the same theme, Les Troyens.
Giuseppe Maria Orlandini was an Italian baroque composer particularly known for his more than 40 operas and intermezzos. Highly regarded by music historians of his day like Francesco Saverio Quadrio, Jean-Benjamin de La Borde and Charles Burney, Orlandini, along with Vivaldi, is considered one of the major creators of the new style of opera that dominated the second decade of the 18th century.
Antonia Margherita Merighi was an Italian contralto active between 1703 and 1744 and known for her performances in operas by George Frideric Handel.
Didone abbandonata was an opera in three acts composed by Tomaso Albinoni. Albinoni's music was set to Pietro Metastasio's libretto, Didone abbandonata, which was in turn based on the story of Dido and Aeneas from the fourth book of Virgil's Aeneid. The opera premiered on 26 December 1724 at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice and was the first time that an opera based on a Metastasio libretto was performed in Venice.
Dido, Queen of Carthage was an opera in three acts by Stephen Storace. Its English libretto by Prince Hoare was adapted from Metastasio's 1724 libretto, Didone abbandonata, which had been set by many composers. Storace's opera premiered on 23 May 1792 at The King's Theatre in London combined with a performance of his masque, Neptune's Prophecy. The story is based on that of Dido and Aeneas in the fourth book of Virgil's Aeneid. The opera was not a success and was never revived after its original run of performances. The score has been lost.
Annibale Pio Fabri, also known as Balino, from Annibalino, diminutive of his first name, was an Italian singer and composer of the 18th century. One of the leading tenors of his age in a time dominated by the castrati, Fabri is now best known for his association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in whose operas Fabri sang.
Gennaro Manna was an Italian composer based in Naples. He was a member of the Neapolitan School. His compositional output includes 13 operas and more than 150 sacred works, including several oratorios.
L'impresario delle Isole Canarie, also known as L'impresario delle Canarie or Dorina e Nibbio, is a satirical opera intermezzo libretto attributed to Metastasio, written in 1724 to be performed between the acts of Metastasio's opera seria Didone abbandonata. The first performance of the work was on February 1, 1724, in Naples, Italy, at Teatro San Bartolomeo. The first composer to set this libretto to music was Domenico Sarro, also known by the name Sarri, who also revised the work in 1730. The role of Dorina was first sung by the contralto Santa Marchesini, and Nibbio by the basso buffo singer Gioacchino Corrado. Later versions of this libretto appear with the titles L'impresario, L'impresario e la cantante and others.
Didone abbandonata is a setting by Leonardo Vinci of the libretto Didone abbandonata by Metastasio first set to music by Domenico Sarro in 1724. It was premiered at the Teatro delle Dame for the 1726 Carnival season in Rome.
Didone abbandonata is an opera in three acts by Niccolò Jommelli of the libretto Didone abbandonata by Pietro Metastasio. It was composed just after Jommelli left Venice in 1746 and revised in 1763. It was first performed on January 28, 1747, at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
Didone abbandonata is an 1823 opera in two acts by Saverio Mercadante to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola after Metastasio's Didone abbandonata. It was first performed on 18 January 1823 at the Teatro Regio in Turin.
Siface re di Numidia is a libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio. It is a reworking of La forza della virtù by de:Domenico David and was Metastasio's first work as a librettist. it was first performed with a setting to music by Francesco Feo on 13 May 1723 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples.
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