La pravità castigata
Encyclopedia
La pravità castigata is a 1730 pastiche
with music by multiple composer
s and an Italian language libretto
by Antonio Denzio
. It is the first 18th-century opera based on the Don Juan
legend. It was also the first opera ever produced that retains the original setting and at least some of the original character names derived from early 17th-century dramatic prototypes of the Don Juan
legend, the most important of which is Tirso de Molina
's play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra
. La pravità castigata was originally performed during Lent of 1730 in the opera theater of Franz Anton von Sporck
in Prague
, then revived with new music by Eustachio Bambini in Brno
in 1734. Unfortunately, the Brno performance was regarded as the original production for decades, and a published transcription of the libretto (which is missing one scene from the Prague production) identifies it incorrectly as an anonymous text first performed in Brno.
, to attract audiences for his productions as the appeal of his venture fell into decline. There was great interest in the productions he started in Prague in 1724 for about five years, then attendance dropped sharply. Denzio was eventually forced to close his theater in 1735 after spending time in debtors' prison. One of the ideas that Denzio had to generate income for his failing opera company was to extend the operatic season into Lent, even though theaters throughout Europe were traditionally closed during the penitential seasons of Advent
and Lent
. Denzio's first Lenten opera was performed in 1729, a staged oratorio Sansone based on the Old Testament legend of Samson
. The production included a highly-unusual recitation of Jewish chants, whose Sephardic or Ashkenazic origins were carefully recorded in the libretto. For his second Lenten opera, Denzio attempted to stage something much more titillating and innovative in the way of subject matter. Before any opera could be performed in Prague during Lent, the express permission of the archbishop of Prague
, Count Ferdinand von Khünburg, was required. In order to secure it, Denzio explained to the archbishop the beneficial effect for audience members of portraying on stage Don Juan's spectacular damnation for a multitude of sins never repented for. The archbishop did not express any disapproval and quickly issued the necessary decree to permit the performance of the opera.
The libretto Denzio wrote for his Don Juan opera is unusual for its time in mixing comic and serious scenes into the main fabric of the drama. His designation for the work, a rappresentazione morale ("morality play") is probably unique for an opera of this era. After the libretto "reform" of the turn of the 18th century, it was not customary to mix serious and comic action in opera librettos. If comic action were to be included in an evening's entertainment, it would usually be confined to comic intermezzi that were presented between the acts of a serious drama. Denzio's drama preserves the mixing of serious and comic action that would be more typical of 17th-century Venetian librettos. This trait is invited, of course, by the subject matter and his obvious literary model, the play Il convitato di pietra by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini
, the prototype dramatization for Italian versions of the Don Juan tale, considered much more vulgar than the Spanish drama of Tirso de Molina. Most operas with serious action from the 1720s and 1730s are set in the distant past (usually no later than the period of the European Dark Ages). Denzio did not precisely identify the time period for his Don Juan drama, but cultural and political references clearly indicate early modern times. Although the characters are mainly Spaniards, the action is set entirely in the Kingdom of Naples
, which was ruled by members or allies of Spanish royal houses for centuries.
No score for the opera survives. Its music was a pasticcio
of aria
s borrowed from other operas. Most of them were taken from works by Antonio Caldara
, as indicated by Denzio in the preface to his libretto. Caldara is not named directly, rather he is merely hinted at. It is possible that Denzio concealed the borrowings due to Caldara's position in the musical establishment of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI
in Vienna, which could have put Caldara in a position to retaliate for the unauthorized use of his music (Prague at that time was under the authority of Charles VI, who held the title King of Bohemia
). From the texts preserved in surviving copies of the libretto, it has been possible to identify a few of the Caldara arias used in La pravità castigata (at least one other aria appears to have been borrowed from an opera by Antonio Vivaldi
). The recitative
used in the production was likely composed by Matteo Luchini, a minor composer attached to the Denzio company who also appeared in the production as a singer, indeed as Don Giovanni in this production. No reaction is recorded over Denzio's ironic decision to cast a castrato
singer as the world's greatest seducer.
In spite of the unfamiliar setting in Naples
, the Denzio drama features many incidents and characters familiar to operatic audiences from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
. The central character, the seducer Don Giovanni, is also dragged down to hell for murdering an aged military officer (the Commendatore) who angered Don Giovanni by trying to defend the honor of his beloved daughter. Denzio included the daughter's ineffectual fiancé and Don Giovanni's cowardly servant besides other characters that originate in the Don Juan dramas of Tirso and Cicognini. Don Giovanni's standard techniques of trying to seduce lower-class women with promises of marriage and upper-class women by appearing to them disguised as their lovers are carefully respected.
Almost nothing is known about the reception of Denzio's highly innovative operatic production. One of the surviving copies of the librettos does record a mildly positive reaction to the opera, but the best measure of its success is the revival of the libretto with new music in Brno four years after its premiere.
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
with music by multiple 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 and an Italian language 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...
by Antonio Denzio
Antonio Denzio
Antonio Denzio was an Italian impresario, tenor, and librettist. Born in Venice to a family of musicians and operatic personnel, he pursued a career mainly as a singer until 1724, when he traveled to Bohemia as a member of the opera company of Antonio Maria Peruzzi, probably his uncle...
. It is the first 18th-century opera based on the Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
legend. It was also the first opera ever produced that retains the original setting and at least some of the original character names derived from early 17th-century dramatic prototypes of the Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
legend, the most important of which is Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and a Roman Catholic monk.Originally Gabriel Téllez, he was born in Madrid. He studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on November 4, 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara,...
's play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra
El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra
The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest is a play by Tirso de Molina, first published in Spain around 1630, though it may have been performed as early as 1616...
. La pravità castigata was originally performed during Lent of 1730 in the opera theater of Franz Anton von Sporck
Franz Anton von Sporck
Franz Anton von Sporck, Count was a German-speaking literatus and patron of the arts who lived in the province of Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, then revived with new music by Eustachio Bambini in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
in 1734. Unfortunately, the Brno performance was regarded as the original production for decades, and a published transcription of the libretto (which is missing one scene from the Prague production) identifies it incorrectly as an anonymous text first performed in Brno.
Composition and performance history
The origins of La pravità castigata lie in the struggles of the impresario of the Sporck theater, Antonio DenzioAntonio Denzio
Antonio Denzio was an Italian impresario, tenor, and librettist. Born in Venice to a family of musicians and operatic personnel, he pursued a career mainly as a singer until 1724, when he traveled to Bohemia as a member of the opera company of Antonio Maria Peruzzi, probably his uncle...
, to attract audiences for his productions as the appeal of his venture fell into decline. There was great interest in the productions he started in Prague in 1724 for about five years, then attendance dropped sharply. Denzio was eventually forced to close his theater in 1735 after spending time in debtors' prison. One of the ideas that Denzio had to generate income for his failing opera company was to extend the operatic season into Lent, even though theaters throughout Europe were traditionally closed during the penitential seasons of Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
and Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
. Denzio's first Lenten opera was performed in 1729, a staged oratorio Sansone based on the Old Testament legend of Samson
Samson
Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
. The production included a highly-unusual recitation of Jewish chants, whose Sephardic or Ashkenazic origins were carefully recorded in the libretto. For his second Lenten opera, Denzio attempted to stage something much more titillating and innovative in the way of subject matter. Before any opera could be performed in Prague during Lent, the express permission of the archbishop of Prague
Archbishop of Prague
The following is a list of bishops and archbishops of Prague. The bishopric of Prague was established in 973, and elevated to an archbishopric on 30 April 1344. The today's Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague is the continual successor of the bishoprie established in 973...
, Count Ferdinand von Khünburg, was required. In order to secure it, Denzio explained to the archbishop the beneficial effect for audience members of portraying on stage Don Juan's spectacular damnation for a multitude of sins never repented for. The archbishop did not express any disapproval and quickly issued the necessary decree to permit the performance of the opera.
The libretto Denzio wrote for his Don Juan opera is unusual for its time in mixing comic and serious scenes into the main fabric of the drama. His designation for the work, a rappresentazione morale ("morality play") is probably unique for an opera of this era. After the libretto "reform" of the turn of the 18th century, it was not customary to mix serious and comic action in opera librettos. If comic action were to be included in an evening's entertainment, it would usually be confined to comic intermezzi that were presented between the acts of a serious drama. Denzio's drama preserves the mixing of serious and comic action that would be more typical of 17th-century Venetian librettos. This trait is invited, of course, by the subject matter and his obvious literary model, the play Il convitato di pietra by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini
Giacinto Andrea Cicognini
Giacinto Andrea Cicognini was an Italian playwright and librettist, the son of poet and playwright Jacopo Cicognini.Cicognini was born in Florence. In 1627, he graduated from the University of Pisa, and he lived in Florence from 1640 to 1645 where he have legal advice to the poet and playwright...
, the prototype dramatization for Italian versions of the Don Juan tale, considered much more vulgar than the Spanish drama of Tirso de Molina. Most operas with serious action from the 1720s and 1730s are set in the distant past (usually no later than the period of the European Dark Ages). Denzio did not precisely identify the time period for his Don Juan drama, but cultural and political references clearly indicate early modern times. Although the characters are mainly Spaniards, the action is set entirely in the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, which was ruled by members or allies of Spanish royal houses for centuries.
No score for the opera survives. Its music was a pasticcio
Pasticcio
In music, a pasticcio or pastiche is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, or inauthentic.-Etymology:The term is first attested in the...
of 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 borrowed from other operas. Most of them were taken from works by 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...
, as indicated by Denzio in the preface to his libretto. Caldara is not named directly, rather he is merely hinted at. It is possible that Denzio concealed the borrowings due to Caldara's position in the musical establishment of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
in Vienna, which could have put Caldara in a position to retaliate for the unauthorized use of his music (Prague at that time was under the authority of Charles VI, who held the title King of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
). From the texts preserved in surviving copies of the libretto, it has been possible to identify a few of the Caldara arias used in La pravità castigata (at least one other aria appears to have been borrowed from an opera by 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...
). The 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...
used in the production was likely composed by Matteo Luchini, a minor composer attached to the Denzio company who also appeared in the production as a singer, indeed as Don Giovanni in this production. No reaction is recorded over Denzio's ironic decision to cast a 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...
singer as the world's greatest seducer.
In spite of the unfamiliar setting in Naples
Naples
Naples 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...
, the Denzio drama features many incidents and characters familiar to operatic audiences from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
. The central character, the seducer Don Giovanni, is also dragged down to hell for murdering an aged military officer (the Commendatore) who angered Don Giovanni by trying to defend the honor of his beloved daughter. Denzio included the daughter's ineffectual fiancé and Don Giovanni's cowardly servant besides other characters that originate in the Don Juan dramas of Tirso and Cicognini. Don Giovanni's standard techniques of trying to seduce lower-class women with promises of marriage and upper-class women by appearing to them disguised as their lovers are carefully respected.
Almost nothing is known about the reception of Denzio's highly innovative operatic production. One of the surviving copies of the librettos does record a mildly positive reaction to the opera, but the best measure of its success is the revival of the libretto with new music in Brno four years after its premiere.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, Lent 1730, Sporck Theater, Prague |
|---|---|---|
| Manfredi, king of Naples | uncertain | Filippo Galletti |
| Don Alvaro, Commendatore of Sant'Iago and minister of the king | 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... |
Antonio Denzio Antonio Denzio Antonio Denzio was an Italian impresario, tenor, and librettist. Born in Venice to a family of musicians and operatic personnel, he pursued a career mainly as a singer until 1724, when he traveled to Bohemia as a member of the opera company of Antonio Maria Peruzzi, probably his uncle... |
| Donna Isabella, his daughter, promised in marriage to the duke of Chiarenza | 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... |
Girolama Madonis |
| Don Garzia, a royal counselor | uncertain | anonymous ("il Sig. N.N.") |
| Donna Beatrice, a court lady | soprano | Anna Cosimi |
| Don Ottavio, duke of Chiarenza, betrothed to Donna Isabella | soprano | Margherita Flora (in a breeches role Breeches role A breeches role is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing .In opera it also refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer... ) |
| Don Giovanni, a foreigner in Naples | 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... |
Matteo Luchini |
| Rosalba, a fishergirl who lives on the beach near Naples | soprano | Cecilia Monti |
| Bognolo, Venetian servant of the duke of Chiarenza | uncertain | anonymous ("il Sig. N.N.") |
| Malorco | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Bartolomeo Cajo |