L'Olimpiade
Encyclopedia
L'Olimpiade is an opera
libretto
in three acts by Metastasio
originally written for Antonio Caldara
's 1733 opera. Following Caldara's success, more than 60 baroque
and classical composer
s used the libretto for their own renditions. Metastasio’s plot, draws upon the narrative of '"The Trial of the Suitors" provided from book 6 of Herodotus
's The Histories
. The story, set in Ancient Greece
at the time of the Olympic games, is about amorous rivalry and characters' taking places to gain the loved one. The story ends with two marriages being announced.
's birthday in 1733 and Metastasio was hired to write the libretto. The opera was immensely popular and productions soon were amounted across Europe, making Caldara's opera one of the most frequently performed operas of the first half of the 18th century. Metastasio himself commented to Saverio Mattei that L’Olimpiade had been "performed and repeated in all the theatres of Europe". Indeed, it ranks with Demofoonte and Didone abbandonata
, dramas excelled in popularity only by Artaserse
and Alessandro nell'Indie. The popularity of L’olimpiade may subsequently have prompted Metastasio’s Nitteti, a twin drama in several respects.
The popularity of Caldara's opera certainly gave Metastasio's libretto a wide audience. The composers who later chose to set his libretto to their own music would have certainly been familiar with his text through Caldara's opera. The first composer to reuse the libretto was Antonio Vivaldi
in Venice in 1734. This was followed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
's famous version in 1735. Although Pergolesi’s initial setting for Rome was not immediately successful, the number of subsequent stagings and extant manuscripts have particularly associated his name with this drama. In 1748 Baldassare Galuppi’s version premiered to resounding success in Milan
and the opera is now regarded as his most successful opera seria
. The libretto was also the source for one of Josef Mysliveček
's finest dramatic works (1778, Naples) and a popular success for Antonio Sacchini
in Padua 1763. Johann Nepomuk Poissl was the first German composer to set the work in 1815 and his version enjoyed occasional revivals during the nineteenth century.
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...
libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
in three acts by Metastasio
Metastasio
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.-Early life:...
originally written for Antonio Caldara
Antonio Caldara
Antonio Caldara was an Italian Baroque composer.Caldara was born in Venice , the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, probably under the instruction of Giovanni Legrenzi...
's 1733 opera. Following Caldara's success, more than 60 baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
and classical composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s used the libretto for their own renditions. Metastasio’s plot, draws upon the narrative of '"The Trial of the Suitors" provided from book 6 of Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
's The Histories
Histories (Herodotus)
The Histories of Herodotus is considered one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. Written from the 450s to the 420s BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that...
. The story, set in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
at the time of the Olympic games, is about amorous rivalry and characters' taking places to gain the loved one. The story ends with two marriages being announced.
History
Caldara's opera was commissioned for the celebration of Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-WolfenbüttelElisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary; and Archduchess of Austria by her marriage to Emperor Charles VI. She was renowned for her delicate beauty and also for being the mother of Empress...
's birthday in 1733 and Metastasio was hired to write the libretto. The opera was immensely popular and productions soon were amounted across Europe, making Caldara's opera one of the most frequently performed operas of the first half of the 18th century. Metastasio himself commented to Saverio Mattei that L’Olimpiade had been "performed and repeated in all the theatres of Europe". Indeed, it ranks with Demofoonte and Didone abbandonata
Didone abbandonata
Didone abbandonata is an opera libretto in 3 acts by Pietro Metastasio. It was his first original work and was set to music by Domenico Sarro in 1724...
, dramas excelled in popularity only by Artaserse
Artaserse
Artaserse is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. Artaserse is the Italian form of the name of a Persian king, Artaxerxes....
and Alessandro nell'Indie. The popularity of L’olimpiade may subsequently have prompted Metastasio’s Nitteti, a twin drama in several respects.
The popularity of Caldara's opera certainly gave Metastasio's libretto a wide audience. The composers who later chose to set his libretto to their own music would have certainly been familiar with his text through Caldara's opera. The first composer to reuse the libretto was Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
in Venice in 1734. This was followed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was an Italian composer, violinist and organist.-Biography:Born at Iesi, Pergolesi studied music there under a local musician, Francesco Santini, before going to Naples in 1725, where he studied under Gaetano Greco and Francesco Feo among others...
's famous version in 1735. Although Pergolesi’s initial setting for Rome was not immediately successful, the number of subsequent stagings and extant manuscripts have particularly associated his name with this drama. In 1748 Baldassare Galuppi’s version premiered to resounding success in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and the opera is now regarded as his most successful 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...
. The libretto was also the source for one of Josef Mysliveček
Josef Myslivecek
Josef Mysliveček was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music...
's finest dramatic works (1778, Naples) and a popular success for Antonio Sacchini
Antonio Sacchini
Antonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini was an Italian opera composer.Sacchini was born in Florence, but was raised in Naples, where he received his musical education at the San Onofrio conservatory. He wrote his first operas in Naples, thereafter moving to Venice, then London and eventually Paris, where...
in Padua 1763. Johann Nepomuk Poissl was the first German composer to set the work in 1815 and his version enjoyed occasional revivals during the nineteenth century.
Act 1
Megacles arrives in Sicyon just in time to enter the Olympic Games under the name of Lycidas, a friend who once saved his life. Unknown to Megacles, Lycidas is in love with Aristaea, whose hand is to be offered to the winner of the games by her father, King Cleisthenes. Lycidas, once betrothed to Princess Argene of Crete, is unaware that Megacles and Aristaea already love each other, and he subsequently tells his friend of the prize. Aristaea and Megacles greet each other fondly, but Megacles now feels bound by his promise to compete as Lycidas. Meanwhile Argene arrives in Olympia disguised as a shepherdess, to win back Lycidas.Act 2
Megacles wins the games, confesses the truth to Aristaea and departs, broken-hearted. When Lycidas comes to claim her, Aristaea reproaches him, as does the disguised Argene, much to his dismay. Amyntas, tutor to Lycidas, reports that Megacles has drowned himself, and King Cleisthenes, apprised of the deception, banishes Lycidas.Act 3
Argene prevents the desperate Aristaea from suicide, Megacles is rescued by a fisherman, and Lycidas contemplates the assassination of the king. Aristaea pleads mercy for Lycidas and Argene offers herself in his place; as proof that she is a princess, she shows Cleisthenes a chain given her by Lycidas. He recognizes it as belonging to his son, abandoned in infancy to forestall the prophecy that he would kill his father. Lycidas, reinstated, accepts Argene, leaving his sister to Megacles.Recordings
Baldassare Galuppi- World premiere recording on video DVD - 2006 Teatro Malibran, Venice - Andrea Marcon (Conductor), Venice Baroque Orchestra
Dominique Poulange (Stage director) - Cast: Mark Tucker, Ruth Rosique, Roberta Invernizzi, Romina Basso - DynamicDynamic (record label)Dynamic is an Italian independent record label located in Genoa. Founded in 1978, it specialises in classical music and opera, especially rarely performed works and has produced several world premiere recordings...
Cat.33545
List of notable settings
The following is a list of the most notable operas that utilized Metastasio's libretto in chronological order of first performance:- Antonio CaldaraAntonio CaldaraAntonio Caldara was an Italian Baroque composer.Caldara was born in Venice , the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, probably under the instruction of Giovanni Legrenzi...
, L'Olimpiade, first performance 28 August 1733, in honor of Elisabeth, wife of Emperor Charles VI - Antonio VivaldiAntonio VivaldiAntonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
, L'OlimpiadeL'Olimpiade (Vivaldi)L'Olimpiade is a dramma per musica in three acts that was composed by Antonio Vivaldi. The opera uses an Italian libretto by Pietro Metastasio that was originally written for Antonio Caldara's 1733 opera of the same name...
, VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Teatro Sant'Angelo, 1734 - Giovanni Battista PergolesiGiovanni Battista PergolesiGiovanni Battista Pergolesi was an Italian composer, violinist and organist.-Biography:Born at Iesi, Pergolesi studied music there under a local musician, Francesco Santini, before going to Naples in 1725, where he studied under Gaetano Greco and Francesco Feo among others...
, L'Olimpiade, RomeRomeRome 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...
, 1735 - Leonardo LeoLeonardo LeoLeonardo Leo , more correctly Lionardo Oronzo Salvatore de Leo, was an Italian Baroque composer.-Biography:...
, L'Olimpiade, NaplesNaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, 1737 - Baldassare Galuppi, L'Olimpiade, MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, 1748 - Johann Adolf Hasse, L'Olimpiade, DresdenDresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, 1756 - Tommaso TraettaTommaso TraettaTommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta was an Italian composer.-Biography:Traetta was born in Bitonto, a town near Bari, near the top of the heel of the boot of Italy. He eventually became a pupil of the composer, singer and teacher Nicola Porpora in Naples, and scored a first success with his...
, L'Olimpiade, VeronaVeronaVerona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, 1758 - Niccolò JommelliNiccolò JommelliNiccolò Jommelli was an Italian composer. He was born in Aversa and died in Naples. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he made important changes to opera and reduced the importance of star singers.-Early life:Jommelli was born to Francesco Antonio Jommelli and...
, L'Olimpiade, StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, 1761 - Niccolò PiccinniNiccolò PiccinniNiccolò Piccinni was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure, even to music lovers today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of his day...
, L'Olimpiade, Rome, 1761 - Vincenzo ManfrediniVincenzo ManfrediniVincenzo Manfredini was an Italian composer, harpsichordist and a music theorist.-Biography:Manfredini was born in Pistoia, near Florence....
, L'Olimpiade, MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, 1762 - Antonio SacchiniAntonio SacchiniAntonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini was an Italian opera composer.Sacchini was born in Florence, but was raised in Naples, where he received his musical education at the San Onofrio conservatory. He wrote his first operas in Naples, thereafter moving to Venice, then London and eventually Paris, where...
, L'Olimpiade, PaduaPaduaPadua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, 1763 - Josef MyslivečekJosef MyslivecekJosef Mysliveček was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music...
, L'OlimpiadeL'Olimpiade (Mysliveček)L'Olimpiade is an 18th-century Italian opera in 3 acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It was composed to a libretto by the Italian poet Metastasio that was first performed in 1733...
, Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 4 November 1778 - Domenico CimarosaDomenico CimarosaDomenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school...
, L'Olimpiade, VicenzaVicenzaVicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
, 10 July 1784 - Giovanni PaisielloGiovanni PaisielloGiovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era.-Life:Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and...
, L'Olimpiade, Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 20 January 1786 - Gaetano DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
, Olimpiade, (1817, incomplete)