Il Medonte is an Italian opera

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 Giovanni de Gamerra

Giovanni de Gamerra

Giovanni de Gamerra was a cleric, a playwright, and a poet. He is best known as a prolific librettist....

. Like all of the composer's operas, it belongs to the serious genre in Italian 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...

.

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the Teatro Argentina

Teatro Argentina

The Teatro Argentina is an opera house and theatre located in the Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in Rome, Italy. It is one of the oldest theatres in Rome, and was inaugurated on January 31, 1732 with Berenice by Domenico Sarro....

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 on 26 January 1780. It was a moderate success that redeemed the failure of the composer's Armida

Armida (Mysliveček)

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...

, which was a spectacular failure at Milan during the same carnival operatic season of 1780. In modern times, it was revived for performances in Opava

Opava

Opava is a city in the northern Czech Republic on the river Opava, located to the north-west of Ostrava. The historical capital of Czech Silesia, Opava is now in the Moravian-Silesian Region and has a population of 59,843 as of January 1, 2005....

 in 1961 and Leverkusen

Leverkusen

Leverkusen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the South, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne and to the North is the state capital Düsseldorf....

 in 2010. The most famous vocal piece from the opera is the rondò

Rondo

Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...

 "Luci belle, se piagente," which was widely disseminated in Europe until the early 19th century and was indeed one of the most outstanding vocal compositions of its era. It was originally sung by Tommaso Consoli in the role of Arsace. All of the original performers in the opera were male, since women were prohibited from appearing on stage in Roman theaters until Pius VII was elevated to the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 in the year 1800.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 26 January 1780, Teatro Argentina, Rome
Medonte, King of Epirus, lover and betrothed of Selene	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...	Giacomo David Giacomo David Giacomo David , was a leading Italian tenor of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-Biography:...
Selene, Princess of Argos, daughter of Aglauro, king of Argos, in love with Arsace	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...	Michelangelo Bologna
Arsace, Royal prince of Dodone and supreme commander of the armies of Epirus	soprano castrato	Tommaso Consoli
Zelinda, Royal princess of Larissa, a tributary and friend of Medonte	soprano castrato	Silvestro Fiammenchi
Evandro, a Grande of the kingdom of Epirus and captain of the royal guards	soprano castrato	Biagio Parca
Talete, one of the notables of the kingdom of Argos	alto castrato	Lorenzo Galeffi

Vocal Set pieces

Act I, scene 1 - Cavatina of Arsace, "Deh, s'affretti, astri tiranni"

Act I, scene 1 - Aria of Evandro, "Merta gli allori al crine"

Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Arsace, "Fra gli affanni"

Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Zelinda, "Ch'io presso del soglio"

Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Selena, "Ah, caro ben vicina"

Act I, scene 5 - Aria of Medonte, "Pensa che sol per poco"

Act I, scene 7 - Accompanied recitative for Selena and Arsace, "Tu parli di morire?"

Act I, scene 7 - Duet for Selena and Arsace, "Ah, se mi sei fedete"


Act II, scene 1 - Aria of Talete, "Vedrò fier sempre in calma"

Act II, scene 3 - Aria of Zelinda, "Se vuoi dell'indegno"

Act II, scene 5 - Aria of Medonte, "Serba costante"

Act II, scene 7 - Accompanied recitative of Selena, "Dov'è, ah dov'è, son io"

Act II, scene 7 - Cavatina of Selena, "Adorata mia speranza"

Act II, scene 9 - Accompanied recitative of Arsace, "Cedere è forza, o cara"

Act II, scene 9 - Aria (Rondò) of Arsace, "Luci belle, se piangete"

Act II, scene 12 - Aria of Evandro, "Vedrai se un fido core"

Act II, scene 13 - Trio for Selena, Arsace, and Medonte, "Tremate empi"


Act III, scene 2 - Aria of Medonte, "Perfidi io sciolgo il freno"

Act III, scene 3 - Aria of Arsace, "Scioglio cara un dolce riso"

Act III, scene 4 - Aria of Selena, "Mesti affanni"