| Eteocle e Polinice | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Giovanni Legrenzi | |
 | |
| Librettist | Tebaldo Fattorini |
| Premiere | |
Eteocle e Polinice (Eteocles and Polynices) is an opera in 3 acts composed by Giovanni Legrenzi with an Italian-language libretto by Tebaldo Fattorini based on The Thebaid . The opera premiered at the Teatro San Salvador in Venice on 13 December 1674. [1] [2]
Little is known about the opera's librettist, Tebaldo Fattorini, apart from the fact that he came from a prominent family in Chioggia and was employed as a "house poet" for the Teatro San Salvador in Venice. In addition to writing Eteocle e Polinice, he also significantly revised Nicolò Minato's libretto for a new version of Cavalli's Scipione africano in 1677 and may also have revised Giovanni Giovannini's original libretto for its setting by Legrenzi as Adone in Cipro in 1675. [1]
The libretto for the premiere performances of Eteocle e Polinice at the Teatro San Salvador in 1674 was dedicated of the "most noble ladies of Venice" ("Consacrato alle nobilissime dame di Venetia"). [3] Subsequent productions of the opera with new dedications were staged in Naples (1689), Milan (1684), and Modena (1690). [2] The opera consists of a total of 101 musical pieces, including arias, duets, quartets, etc. [4] Its most well known aria, "Che fiero costume" (also known by its English title, "How void of compassion"), has been recorded by several well known opera singers, including Luciano Pavarotti, Ezio Pinza, and Richard Tucker. [5] A manuscript score from the 1689 Neapolitan production has survived. [1] [2]
Richard Strauss made specific reference to this opera in Die schweigsame Frau , recomposing "Dolce Amor" as a duet which is sung in the course of the music lesson scene in act 3, as one of many such re-appropriations of pre-existing music Strauss used to create an "antique" atmosphere.[ citation needed ]
The immediate source of the libretto was the Latin poem The Thebaid by Statius wherein despite entreaties from their sister Antigone the brothers Eteocles and Polynices went to war with each other over who should rule Thebes. It ended with the principal characters all dying tragically through murder, suicide, or grief. However, Tebaldo Fattorini's libretto has a happy ending in which Antigone is reunited with Tideo, Prince of Aetolia, and Eteocle is reunited with the warrior-princess Deifile. The victorious Adrasto, the King of Argos who had been the ally of Polynices, supervises the return to peace and harmony. [3] [4]
In Greek mythology, Antigone is a Theban princess and a character in several ancient Greek tragedies. She is the daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes, and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene. The meaning of the name is, as in the case of the masculine equivalent Antigonus, "in place of one's parents" or "worthy of one's parents". Antigone appears in the three 5th century BC tragic plays written by Sophocles, known collectively as the three Theban plays, being the protagonist of the eponymous tragedy Antigone. She makes a brief appearance at the end of Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, while her story was also the subject of Euripides' now lost play with the same name.
In Greek mythology, Polynices was the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia and the older brother of Eteocles. When his father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, he was expelled from Thebes, leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule. Because of a curse put on them by their father Oedipus, the two sons did not share the rule peacefully and died as a result, killing each other in battle for control over Thebes.
In Greek mythology, Adrastus or Adrestus, , was a king of Argos, and leader of the Seven against Thebes. He was the son of the Argive king Talaus, but was forced out of Argos by his dynastic rival Amphiaraus. He fled to Sicyon, where he became king. Later he reconciled with Amphiaraus and returned to Argos as its king.
In Greek mythology, Jocasta, also rendered Iocaste and also known as Epicaste, was a daughter of Menoeceus, a descendant of the Spartoi Echion, and queen consort of Thebes. She was the wife of first Laius, then of their son Oedipus, and both mother and grandmother of Antigone, Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene. She was also sister of Creon and mother-in-law of Haimon.
Giovanni Legrenzi was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and extremely influential in the development of late Baroque idioms across northern Italy.
The Seven against Thebes were seven champions in Greek mythology who made war on Thebes. They were chosen by Adrastus, the king of Argos, to be the captains of an Argive army whose purpose was to restore Oedipus' son Polynices to the Theban throne. Adrastus, although always the leader of the expedition against Thebes, was not always counted as one of the Seven champions. Usually the Seven were Polynices, Tydeus, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, Parthenopaeus, Hippomedon, and Adrastus or Eteoclus, whenever Adrastus is excluded. They tried and failed to take Thebes, and all but Adrastus died in the attempt.
L'Ormindo is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Francesco Cavalli to an original Italian libretto by Giovanni Faustini. The manuscript score is held at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, while a copy of the original libretto has been digitized by the Library of Congress. The opera has set numbers with recitative, and is set in Anfa (Casablanca), in the Mauri kingdom of Fessa (Fez).
The Theban Cycle is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which tells the mythological history of the Boeotian city of Thebes. They were composed in dactylic hexameter verse and believed to be recorded between 750 and 500 BC. The epics took place before the Trojan War and centered around the Theban royal family.
The Thebaid is a Latin epic poem written by the Roman poet Statius. Published in the early 90s AD, it contains 12 books and recounts the clash of two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, over the throne of the Greek city of Thebes. After Polynices is sent into exile, he forges an alliance of seven Greek princes and embarks on a military campaign against his brother.
Antonio Sartorio was an Italian composer active mainly in Venice, Italy, and in Hanover, Germany. He was a leading composer of operas in his native Venice in the 1660s and 1670s and was also known for composing in other genres of vocal music. Between 1665 and 1675 he spent most of his time in Hanover, where he held the post of Kapellmeister to Duke Johann Friedrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg – returning frequently to Venice to compose operas for the Carnival. In 1676 he became vice maestro di capella at San Marco in Venice.
Count Nicolò Minato was an Italian poet, librettist and impresario. His career can be divided into two parts: the years he spent at Venice, from 1650 to 1669, and the years at Vienna, from 1669 until his death.
Carlo Francesco Pollarolo was an Italian composer, organist, and music director. Known chiefly for his operas, he wrote a total of 85 of them as well as 13 oratorios. His compositional style was initially indebted to the opera tradition of Giovanni Legrenzi and Carlo Pallavicino, but he moved beyond this style with innovations to the compositional structure of the aria characterized by expanded forms and orchestral elaborations. His early work used three part strings in the Legrenzi and Pallacino tradition of orchestration, but his mid and later works had developed into a richer orchestration of five strings parts and expanded instrumentation of brass and woodwinds. He was the first Venetian opera composer and one of the earliest Italian composers to use the oboe in his opera orchestrations.
Carlo Pallavicino was an Italian composer.
Giulio Cesare Corradi was an Italian opera librettist.
Carlo Ambrogio Lonati, baptized Giovanni Ambrogio Leinati, also Lunati; was an Italian composer, violinist and singer. Francesco Maria Veracini described him in 1760 as one of the most virtuoso violinists of his century.
La divisione del mondo is an opera in 3 acts by composer Giovanni Legrenzi. The opera uses an Italian-language libretto by Giulio Cesare Corradi and was commissioned by the Marquis Guido Rangoni. The opera tells the story of the division of the world after the Titan deities were defeated by the Olympian gods. The goddess Venus provides the central conflict of the opera through a series of moral temptations which lead all of the other gods, with the exception of Saturn, into debauchery.
Il Giustino is an opera in three acts by composer Giovanni Legrenzi. The work uses an Italian-language libretto by Nicolò Beregan based on the life of Emperor Justin I. The opera premiered on 7 February 1683 at the Teatro San Salvador in Venice.
L'Argia is an opera in a prologue and three acts composed by Antonio Cesti to a libretto by Giovanni Filippo Apolloni. It was first performed in the court theatre at Innsbruck on 4 November 1655 to celebrate the visit of Queen Christina of Sweden who was on her way to exile in Rome. Over the next 20 years it had multiple performances in Italian cities including Venice and Siena where it inaugurated Siena's new opera house in 1669. Its first performance in modern times took place at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music in 1996. Set on the Island of Cyprus in ancient times the opera's convoluted plot, full of disguises and mistaken identities, revolves around the amorous misadventures of Selino who has been pursued to Salamis by his deserted wife Princess Argia.
Giovanni Maria Pagliardi (1637–1702) was an Italian composer. He became de facto maestro di cappella at Florence Cathedral from 1690, but did not formally gain the title till the death of his predecessor, Pietro Sammartini.
Antonio Gianettini was an Italian organist, concertmaster and composer.
