Mitridate Eupatore

Last updated

Il Mitridate Eupatore ( Mithridates Eupator ) is an opera seria in five acts by the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti with a libretto by Girolamo Frigimelica Roberti. [1]

Contents

It was first performed, with the composer conducting, at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice, on 5 January 1707. [2]

A failure at its premiere, Mitridate Eupatore is now considered one of the finest of Scarlatti's operas.

Roles

Roles, voice types
Role Voice type [3]
Mitridate, right but dispossessed heir to the throne of Pontus, disguised as Eupatore, ambassador of Ptolemy, king of Egypt soprano
Stratonica Mitridate's mother, party to the assassination of her husband, and now wife of Farnacesoprano
Laodice Mitridate's sister, married against her will to the peasant Nicomedesoprano
Nicomede Pontus peasant, of noble birth and great heart, married to unwilling Laodice, but without ever trying to consummate their marriagesoprano
Issicratea Mitridate's wife, desguised as Antigono, second ambassador of the king of Egypt contralto
Farnace Stratonica's former lover and now her husband, usurper of the throne of Pontus tenor
Pelopida Farnace's minister and confidanttenor
Mutes: Mitridate Evergete, Stratonica's first husband; Ptolemy, King of Egypt, and Mitridate and Laodice's friend; Cleopatra, Ptolemy's sister

Synopsis

In the ancient kingdom of Pontus, Farnace has seized the throne, killing the king and marrying his wife, Stratonica. The murdered king's daughter, Laodice, has been married to the ruined nobleman, Nicomede, now reduced to working as a cowherd, while her brother, Mitridate Eupatore, has taken refuge in Egypt. Mitridate and his wife, Issicratea, arrive at the court of Pontus disguised as Egyptian ambassadors. They promise Mitridate's head to the usurping king and queen in return for peace between Egypt and Pontus. Mitridate's mother assents to the death of her own son. Mitridate meets his sister Laodice and reveals his true identity. Mitridate and Issicratea assassinate Farnace and Stratonica, and Nicomede announces to the people the return of their rightful king.

Performances

The opera was performed in July 2017 at the Festival de Beaune by Thibault Noally and his ensemble Les Accents. [4]

Related Research Articles

Mithridates or Mithradates is the Hellenistic form of an Iranian theophoric name, meaning "given by Mithra". Its Modern Persian form is Mehrdad. It may refer to:

<i>Rodrigo</i> (opera)

Rodrigo is an opera in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel. Its original title was Vincer se stesso è la maggior vittoria. The opera is based on the historical figure of Rodrigo, the last Visigothic king of Spain. The libretto was based on Francesco Silvani's II duello d'Amore e di Vendetta. Dating from 1707, it was Handel's first opera written for performance in Italy, and the first performance took place in Florence late in 1707.

<i>Farnace</i> Opera by Antonio Vivaldi

Farnace is an opera by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, set to a libretto by Antonio Maria Lucchini initially set by Leonardo Vinci during 1724. Vivaldi's setting received its first performance in 1727 at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice. Popular at the time, and revived with great success at the Sporck theater in Prague in 1730, Vivaldi's Farnace slipped into oblivion until the last quarter of the 20th century when it emerged from obscurity.

<i>Mitridate, re di Ponto</i> Early opera seria in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mitridate, re di Ponto, K. 87 (74a), is an opera seria in three acts by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi, after Giuseppe Parini's Italian translation of Jean Racine's play Mithridate.

<i>Siroe</i> Opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel

Siroe, re di Persia, is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was his 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music and was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. The opera uses an Italian-language libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Metastasio's Siroe. Like many of Metastasio's libretti, it was also set by Handel's contemporaries, e.g. by Leonardo Vinci, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Adolph Hasse. Pasquale Errichelli's setting of the libretto premiered in the year of Handel's death.

<i>Bellérophon</i> Opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Bellérophon is an opera with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Thomas Corneille and Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle first performed by the Opéra at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris on 31 January 1679.

<i>Sémélé</i> 1709 opera by Marin Marais

Sémélé is an opera by Marin Marais with a libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte first performed on 9 April 1709, by the Paris Opera at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. The opera is in the form of a tragédie en musique with a prologue and five acts.

L'Europe galante is an opéra-ballet in a prologue and four entrées by André Campra to a French libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.

<i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i> (Desmarets and Campra)

Iphigénie en Tauride is an opera by the French composers Henri Desmarets and André Campra. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto is by Joseph-François Duché de Vancy with additions by Antoine Danchet. Desmarets had begun work on the opera around 1696 but abandoned it when he was forced to go into exile in 1699. Campra and his regular librettist Danchet took up the piece and wrote the prologue, most of Act Five, two arias in Act One, an aria for Acts Two and Three, and two arias for the fourth act. The plot is ultimately based on Euripides' tragedy Iphigeneia in Tauris.

Tigrane, o vero L'egual impegno d'amore e di fede is an opera seria in three acts by the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti with a libretto by Domenico Lalli. It was first performed at the Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, on 16 February 1715. It is regarded as one of Scarlatti's finest operas. As well as the serious main plot, there are also comic scenes involving the servants Dorilla and Orcone.

Il trionfo dell'onore is an operatic 'commedia' in three acts by the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti, with a libretto by Francesco Antonio Tullio. It was first performed at the Teatro dei Fiorentini, Naples, on 26 November 1718. It is Scarlatti's only known comic opera.

<i>Lincoronazione di Dario</i> Opera by Antonio Vivaldi

L'incoronazione di Dario is a dramma per musica by Antonio Vivaldi with an Italian libretto by Adriano Morselli. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice on 23 January 1717.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithridates VI Eupator</span> King of Pontus from 120 to 63 BC

Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator was the ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an effective, ambitious and ruthless ruler who sought to dominate Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars to break Roman dominion over Asia and the Hellenic world. He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. He cultivated an immunity to poisons by regularly ingesting sub-lethal doses; this practice, now called mithridatism, is named after him. After his death, he became known as Mithridates the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelo Maria Amorevoli</span> Italian opera singer

Angelo Maria Amorevoli was a leading Italian tenor in Baroque opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simone Kermes</span> German coloratura soprano (born 1965)

Simone Kermes is a German coloratura soprano, especially known for her virtuoso voice, suited to the opera seria genre of the Baroque and early Classical period.

<i>Issé</i> (opera)

Issé is an operatic pastorale héroïque by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches. Initially it was in three acts. The definitive revised version consists of a prologue and five acts. The libretto was by Antoine Houdar de la Motte. Although Destouches was only 25 at the time of its premiere, it is considered his best score.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annibale Pio Fabri</span> Italian singer and composer

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.

<i>Semiramide riconosciuta</i> (Porpora) 1729 dramma per musica by Nicola Porpora

Semiramide riconosciuta is an Italian opera with serious action, or dramma per musica, by Nicola Porpora, set to a libretto by Metastasio with some textual changes, possibly by Domenico Lalli. The opera was written for some of the finest contemporary singers, and includes a technically demanding series of da capo arias.

<i>Gustavo primo, re di Svezia</i> Opera by Baldassare Galuppi

Gustavo primo, re di Svezia is a three act opera seria by Baldassare Galuppi, with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni, fictionalising events in the life of Gustav I of Sweden. Composed in honour of the Genoese nobleman marchese Giovanni Giacomo Grimaldi, it premiered on 25 May 1740 at Venice's Teatro San Samuele. It was first recorded in 2003 by Edit Károly, Mónika Gonzalez, Mario Cecchetti, Gabriella Létai Kiss, Filippo Pina Castiglioni, and the Savaria Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Fabio Pirona.

References

  1. Il Mitridate Eupatore. Tragedia per musica, (libretto) Venice, Rossetti, 1707
  2. Vaccarini, Marina, "Mitridate Eupatore", in Gelli, Piero & Poletti, Filippo (editors), Dizionario dell'opera 2008, Milan: Baldini Castoldi Dalai, pp. 1168–1169, ISBN   978-88-6073-184-5 (reproduced online at Opera Manager (in Italian))
  3. Mitridate Eupatore de Scarlatti au Festival de Beaune : une découverte 25/07/2017 Emmanuel Deroeux ; "Comme chaque année au Festival international d’opéra baroque de Beaune, Thibault Noally et son orchestre Les Accents offrent au public une œuvre italienne méconnue, voire inédite : Mitridate Eupatore d’Alessandro Scarlatti."

Further reading