Armida (Mysliveček)
Encyclopedia
Armida is an opera
in three acts by Josef Mysliveček
set to a libretto by Gianambrogio Migliavacca based on an earlier libretto by Philippe Quinault
. It is one of many operas set at the time of the Crusades
that is based on characters and incidents from Torquato Tasso
's epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata
. This opera (and all the rest of Mysliveček's operas) belong to the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria
. It incorporates many elements from the operatic "reform" movement of the 1770s, including short vocal numbers and short choruses incorporated into the fabric of the drama and lavish use of accompanied recitative
.
in Milan on 26 December 1779 to open the theater's operatic carnival season of 1780 as one of the earliest operas ever performed there. It was a spectacular failure that necessitated the substitution of many of the aria
s for works of Giuseppe Sarti
and Francesco Bianchi
.
There is no reason to believe that an anonymous production of Armida staged in Lucca in 1778 made use of any of Mysliveček's music, in spite of multiple claims in the musicological literature that it constituted the original version of the Milan opera of 1780.
that he arranged it for voice and piano with the new text "Ridente la calma," K. 152 (210a). In this form, it would become one of his most frequently-performed concert aria
s. The aria was originally sung by Mysliveček's friend and professional collaborator Luigi Marchesi
in the role of Rinaldo. The tenor Valentin Adamberger
, who would create the role of Belmonte in Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail
in Vienna in 1782, was also present as a cast member.
the only complete score of the opera)
Act I, scene 1 - Aria of Fenicia, "Perche d'affano oppressa"
Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Sidonia, "Vuoi che turbi"
Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Armida, "So che amor lusinga"
Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Idraote, "Molto soffrir condanna"
Act I, scene 6 - Chorus with Fenicia, "L'orme seguiam d'Armida"
Act I, scene 7 - Duet for Armida and Idraote, "Ah, del fellon nel sangue"
Act I, scene 8 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Dal mio core amor"
Act I, scene 8 - Accompanied recitative for Idraote, "Qui si dimori"
Act I, scene 9 - Accompanied recitative for Rinaldo, "Più queste spiaggie"
Act I, scene 9 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Più non vi sento in seno"
Act I, scene 10 - Aria of Artemidoro, "Se amica vuoi la sorte"
Act I, scene 10 - Chorus with naiad and shepherdess, "Nel più felice tempo"
Act I, scene 11 - Accompanied recitative for Armida, "Qual turbame"
Act I, scene 11 - Aria of Armida, "Cedo l'armi il cor"
Act II, scene 1 - Aria of Ubaldo, "Di luce un raggio"
Act II, scene 3 - Aria of Fenicia, "Arta vanta d'ogn'altra maggiore"
Act II, scene 4 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Ah, disponi di mia sorte"
Act II, scene 5 - Accompanied recitative for Armida, "Vieni, odio implacabile"
Act II, scene 5 - Chorus of furies
Act II, scene 6 - Aria of Armida, "Se il mio duolo, se il mio fato"
Act II, scene 7 - Aria of Odio, "Mi chiamerai ma in vano"
Act II, scene 9 - Chorus with Lucinda, "Ecco la calma"
Act II, scene 9 - Cavatina of Lucinda, "Qui senza stento"
Act II, scene 9 - Duet for Lucinda and the Cavalier Danese, "Qual v'a più bel piacer"
Act II, scene 11 - Cavatina of Melissa, "Perche veder deggio"
Act II, scene 11 - Aria of Ubaldo, "Ah, troppo barbara ragion tiranna"
Act II, scene 12 - Duet for Armida and Rinaldo, "È felice la mia sorte"
Act III, scene 1 - Aria for an "Amante fortunata" with chorus, "Il piacer tranquillo"
Act III, scene 1 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Il caro mio bene"
Act III, scene 2 - Aria of th Cavalier Danese, "Vieni ormai"
Act III, scene 3 - Aria of Armida, "Idol serena i rai e con sola il tuo dolor"
Act III, scene 4 - Accompanied recitative for Armida, "Il traditor Rinaldo"
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts by Josef Mysliveček
Josef Myslivecek
Josef Mysliveček was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music...
set to a libretto by Gianambrogio Migliavacca based on an earlier libretto by Philippe Quinault
Philippe Quinault
Philippe Quinault , French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris.- Biography :Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of Marianne. Quinault's first play was produced at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, when he was only eighteen...
. It is one of many operas set at the time of the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
that is based on characters and incidents from Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
's epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata
Jerusalem Delivered
Jerusalem Delivered is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso first published in 1581, which tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusade in which Catholic knights, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, battle Muslims in order to take Jerusalem...
. This opera (and all the rest of Mysliveček's operas) belong to the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria
Opera seria
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 c. 1770...
. It incorporates many elements from the operatic "reform" movement of the 1770s, including short vocal numbers and short choruses incorporated into the fabric of the drama and lavish use of accompanied recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
.
Performance history
The opera was first performed at the Teatro alla ScalaLa Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in Milan on 26 December 1779 to open the theater's operatic carnival season of 1780 as one of the earliest operas ever performed there. It was a spectacular failure that necessitated the substitution of many of the aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
s for works of Giuseppe Sarti
Giuseppe Sarti
Giuseppe Sarti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:He was born at Faenza. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 1 December 1729. Some earlier sources say he was born on 28 December, but his baptism certificate proves the later date impossible...
and Francesco Bianchi
Francesco Bianchi (musician)
Giuseppe Francesco Bianchi was an Italian opera composer. Born at Cremona, Lombardy, he studied with Pasquale Cafaro and Niccolò Jommelli, and worked mainly in London, Paris and in all the major Italian operatic scenes, Venice, Naples, Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence.He wrote at least 78 operas of...
.
There is no reason to believe that an anonymous production of Armida staged in Lucca in 1778 made use of any of Mysliveček's music, in spite of multiple claims in the musicological literature that it constituted the original version of the Milan opera of 1780.
Connection with Mozart
One of the arias substituted out of the production was "Il caro mio bene" (Act III, scene 1), a vocal piece so much admired by Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
that he arranged it for voice and piano with the new text "Ridente la calma," K. 152 (210a). In this form, it would become one of his most frequently-performed concert aria
Concert Aria
A concert aria is normally a free-standing aria or opera-like scene composed for singer and orchestra, written specifically for performance in concert rather than as part of an opera...
s. The aria was originally sung by Mysliveček's friend and professional collaborator Luigi Marchesi
Luigi Marchesi
Luigi Marchesi was an Italian castrato singer, one of the most prominent and charismatic to appear in Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century.-Biography:Luigi Ludovico Marchesi was born in Milan...
in the role of Rinaldo. The tenor Valentin Adamberger
Valentin Adamberger
Valentin Adamberger, also known by his Italian name Adamonti, was a German operatic tenor...
, who would create the role of Belmonte in Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
in Vienna in 1782, was also present as a cast member.
Roles
| Role | Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types... |
Premiere cast 26 December 1779 Teatro alla Scala, Milan |
|---|---|---|
| Armida, a sorceress, hereditary princess of the kingdom of Siria | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Caterina Gabrielli Caterina Gabrielli Caterina Gabrielli was an Italian soprano.-Biography:Caterina Gabrielli was the daughter of a cook in the service of prince Gabrielli, in Rome... |
| Rinaldo, the most renowned of the knights of Goffredo | soprano castrato Castrato A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's... |
Luigi Marchesi Luigi Marchesi Luigi Marchesi was an Italian castrato singer, one of the most prominent and charismatic to appear in Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century.-Biography:Luigi Ludovico Marchesi was born in Milan... |
| Fenicia, a confidante of Armida; and Lucinda | soprano | Caterina Lorenzini |
| Sidonia, a confidante of Armida; and Melissa | alto Alto Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,... |
Rosa Franchi |
| Idraote, a sorcerer, uncle of Armida, and king of Damascus; Odio; and the Cavalier Danese, a companion of Ubaldo |
tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Valentin Adamberger Valentin Adamberger Valentin Adamberger, also known by his Italian name Adamonti, was a German operatic tenor... |
| Aronte, overseer of the prisoners of Armida; Artemidoro, one of Armida's prisoners; and Ubaldo, an envoy to Rinaldo |
soprano castrato | Gaetano Quistapace |
Vocal Set Pieces
(taken from the score in the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon,the only complete score of the opera)
Act I, scene 1 - Aria of Fenicia, "Perche d'affano oppressa"
Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Sidonia, "Vuoi che turbi"
Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Armida, "So che amor lusinga"
Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Idraote, "Molto soffrir condanna"
Act I, scene 6 - Chorus with Fenicia, "L'orme seguiam d'Armida"
Act I, scene 7 - Duet for Armida and Idraote, "Ah, del fellon nel sangue"
Act I, scene 8 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Dal mio core amor"
Act I, scene 8 - Accompanied recitative for Idraote, "Qui si dimori"
Act I, scene 9 - Accompanied recitative for Rinaldo, "Più queste spiaggie"
Act I, scene 9 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Più non vi sento in seno"
Act I, scene 10 - Aria of Artemidoro, "Se amica vuoi la sorte"
Act I, scene 10 - Chorus with naiad and shepherdess, "Nel più felice tempo"
Act I, scene 11 - Accompanied recitative for Armida, "Qual turbame"
Act I, scene 11 - Aria of Armida, "Cedo l'armi il cor"
Act II, scene 1 - Aria of Ubaldo, "Di luce un raggio"
Act II, scene 3 - Aria of Fenicia, "Arta vanta d'ogn'altra maggiore"
Act II, scene 4 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Ah, disponi di mia sorte"
Act II, scene 5 - Accompanied recitative for Armida, "Vieni, odio implacabile"
Act II, scene 5 - Chorus of furies
Act II, scene 6 - Aria of Armida, "Se il mio duolo, se il mio fato"
Act II, scene 7 - Aria of Odio, "Mi chiamerai ma in vano"
Act II, scene 9 - Chorus with Lucinda, "Ecco la calma"
Act II, scene 9 - Cavatina of Lucinda, "Qui senza stento"
Act II, scene 9 - Duet for Lucinda and the Cavalier Danese, "Qual v'a più bel piacer"
Act II, scene 11 - Cavatina of Melissa, "Perche veder deggio"
Act II, scene 11 - Aria of Ubaldo, "Ah, troppo barbara ragion tiranna"
Act II, scene 12 - Duet for Armida and Rinaldo, "È felice la mia sorte"
Act III, scene 1 - Aria for an "Amante fortunata" with chorus, "Il piacer tranquillo"
Act III, scene 1 - Aria of Rinaldo, "Il caro mio bene"
Act III, scene 2 - Aria of th Cavalier Danese, "Vieni ormai"
Act III, scene 3 - Aria of Armida, "Idol serena i rai e con sola il tuo dolor"
Act III, scene 4 - Accompanied recitative for Armida, "Il traditor Rinaldo"