La pastorella nobile (The Noble Shepherdess) is an commedia per musica [1] in two acts by Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi. The Italian libretto was by Francesco Saverio Zini.
La pastorella nobile was first performed at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples on 15 or 19 April 1788 with Irene Tomeoni, the creator of the title role of La bella pescatrice as the shepherdess Eurilla.
It was one of Guglielmi's most successful opera. Productions followed in Italy and elsewhere, including London, Paris, Madrid, Dresden and Prague, sometimes under the title L'erede di Belprato. In Germany it was given as Die Schöne auf dem Lande, Die adelische Schäferin and Das adelige Landmädchen.
In Vienna it was the most popular opera at the beginning of the 1790s. Adriana Ferrarese and Francesco Benucci, the first Fiodiligi and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte sang the roles of Donna Florida and Don Polibio, in a version that apparently enhanced the importance of Donna Florida, probably through a revision by Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's librettist and Ferrarese's lover. However the later arrival on the scene of Tomeoni (to sing Eurilla) led to the restoration of the original version. [2]
Cast | Voice type | Premiere, 15 or 19 April 1788 |
---|---|---|
Eurilla, a shepherdess | soprano | Irene Tomeoni |
Marchese Astolfo | tenor | |
Don Polibio, the mayor | bass | |
Don Calloandro, Don Polibio's son | baritone | |
Donna Florida, Astolfo's fiancée | soprano | |
Don Astianatte. Donna Florida's brother | tenor | |
Eurilla, the shepherdess is pursued by Marchese Astolpho. who is to marry Donna Florida, while Eurilla is attracted to Don Calloandro, the son of Don Polibio, the mayor.
Il pastor fido is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was set to a libretto by Giacomo Rossi based on the famed and widely familiar pastoral poem of the 'Il pastor fido' by Giovanni Battista Guarini. It had its first performance on 22 November 1712 at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London.
Orlando paladino, Hob. 28/11, is an opera in three acts by Joseph Haydn which was first performed at Eszterháza on 6 December 1782. The libretto by Nunziato Porta is based on another libretto, Le pazzie d'Orlando, by Carlo Francesco Badini, itself inspired by Ariosto's epic poem Orlando furioso. The opera was described as a dramma eroicomico and the plot mixes heroic and comic elements. It was Haydn's most popular opera during his lifetime. While in Prague, Mozart conducted a few performances of the opera. The Pennsylvania Opera Theater presented the United States premiere of the work at the Trocadero Theatre, Philadelphia, in March 1982 with John Gilmore in the title role.
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Carolina Crespi, later known as Carolina Crespi-Bianchi and Carolina Bianchi, was an Italian soprano active on the opera stages of Paris and Northern Italy from 1803 to 1820. She was born in Prague, the daughter of the soprano Luigia Prosperi-Crespi (1770–1824). Crespi was married to the tenor Eliodoro Bianchi and appeared with him in three world premieres at La Scala.
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