Mosè in Egitto is a three-act opera written by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola

Andrea Leone Tottola

Andrea Leone Tottola was a prolific Italian librettist, best known for his work with Gaetano Donizetti and Gioachino Rossini.It is not known when or where he was born...

, which was based on a play by Francesco Ringhieri, L'Osiride, of 1760.

It premiered 5 March 1818 at the recently reconstructed Teatro San Carlo, Naples.

Rossini enlarged the work in 1827, this time to a French libretto. Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge (mɔiːz e faʁaɔ̃ u lə pasaːʒ də la mɛːʁ ʁuːʒ; Moses and Pharaoh, or The Crossing of the Red Sea) is in four acts, with a ballet. It received its premiere in Paris on 26 March.

Composition history

The opera was loosely based on the Exodus

The Exodus

The Exodus is the story of the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt described in the Hebrew Bible.Narrowly defined, the term refers only to the departure from Egypt described in the Book of Exodus; more widely, it takes in the subsequent law-givings and wanderings in the wilderness...

 from Egypt of the Israelites, led by Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

, rendered agreeable to the opera stage by introducing a love theme, in which the Pharaoh's son Amenophis (tenor) plans to prevent their departure, since he loves the Israelite Anaïs (soprano). The opera opens with a darkened stage, as the plague of darkness is dispelled by Moses' prayer, and it ends with the spectacle of the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's host, which "elicited howls of derision" at the clumsy machinery of its staging at the premiere, though the opera surmounted its technical failings and was a hit.

Billed as an azione tragico-sacra, the sacred drama with some features of the oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 circumvented proscriptions of secular dramatic performances during 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...

.

Rossini revised the opera for Naples in 1819, when he introduced Moses' prayer-aria '"Dal tuo stellato soglio", which became one of the most popular opera pieces of the day, inspired a set of variations for violin and piano by Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...

, and survives in concert performance.

Performance history

Parisian audiences had already seen the work, both in a performance by the Paris Opéra at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique

Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique

Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique may refer to the opera company commonly known as the Paris Opera or to one of several different theatres used during periods when the company was officially named the Académie Royale de Musique:...

 and at the Théâtre des Italiens before Rossini revised it for the Paris Opéra, now in four acts with a ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

, where it premiered 26 March 1827, with the title Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le Passage de la Mer Rouge, with translations and additions to the libretto by Luigi Balocchi and Victor Joseph Etienne de Jouy

Victor Joseph Etienne de Jouy

Victor-Joseph Étienne called de Jouy , French dramatist, who abandoned an early military career for a successful literary one....

, who would co-write the libretto for Rossini's final opera Guillaume Tell

William Tell (opera)

Guillaume Tell is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. Based on the legend of William Tell, this opera was Rossini's last, even though the composer lived for nearly forty more years...

.

Roles

Role Naples version/Paris version	Voice type	Naples premiere cast, March 5, 1818 (Conductor: Nicola Festa)	Paris revised version premiere, March 26, 1827 (Conductor: - )
Mosè / Moïse (Moses Moses Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed... )	bass	Michele Benedetti Michele Benedetti Michele Benedetti was an Italian bass particularly associated with Rossini roles.-Career:...	Nicholas-Prosper Levasseur
Faraone / Pharaon (Pharaoh Pharaoh Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace... )	bass	Raniero Remorini	Henri-Bernard Dabadie Henri-Bernard Dabadie Henri-Bernard Dabadie was a French baritone, particularly associated with Rossini and Auber roles.- Life and career :...
Amaltea / Sinaide, his wife	soprano	Frederike Funck	Louise-Zulme Dabadie
Osiride / Aménophis, their son	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...	Andrea Nozzari Andrea Nozzari Andrea Nozzari was an Italian tenor.Nozzari was born in Vertova and studied in Bergamo and Rome. He is notable for the principal roles written for him by Gioachino Rossini and mostly premiered in Domenico Barbaia's theatres in Naples...	Adolphe Nourrit Adolphe Nourrit Adolphe Nourrit was a French operatic tenor, librettist, and composer. One of the most esteemed opera singers of the 1820s and 1830s, he was particularly associated with the works of Gioachino Rossini....
Elcia / Anaï, a Hebrew girl	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...	Isabella Colbran Isabella Colbran Isabella Colbran was a Spanish opera singer, who was known in her native country as Isabel Colbrandt. Many sources note her as a dramatic coloratura soprano but, some believe that she was a mezzo-soprano with a high extension, a soprano sfogato...	Laure Cinti-Damoreau Laure Cinti-Damoreau Laura Cinti-Damoreau was a French soprano particularly associated with Rossini roles.- Life and career :...
Aronne / Elézer (Aaron Aaron In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites... )	tenor	Giuseppe Ciccimarra Giuseppe Ciccimarra Giuseppe Ciccimarra was an Italian tenor, closely associated with Rossini roles.-Career:Ciccimarra was born in Altamura...	Alexis Dupont
Amenofi / Marie (Miriam), Moses' sister	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Maria Manzi	Mori
Mambre / Aufide, a priest	tenor	Gaetano Chizzola	Ferdinand Prévôt Ferdinand Prévôt Ferdinand Prévôt was an French operatic baritone. His surname is also found spelt as Prevot or Prévost....
(no role) / Osiride, the High Priest	bass		Bonel
(no role) / A mysterious voice	bass		Bonel

Instrumentation

Instrumentation (music)

In music, instrumentation refers to the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually...

The score

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...

 calls for: 2 Flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

s/2 Piccolo

Piccolo

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...

s, 2 Oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s, 2 Clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

s, 2 Bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

s, 4 Horns, 2 trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, 3 Trombones, Serpent

Serpent (instrument)

A serpent is a bass wind instrument, descended from the cornett, and a distant ancestor of the tuba, with a mouthpiece like a brass instrument but side holes like a woodwind. It is usually a long cone bent into a snakelike shape, hence the name. The serpent is closely related to the cornett,...

, Timpani

Timpani

Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

, Bass Drum

Bass drum

Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

, cymbal

Cymbal

Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...

s, Triangle

Triangle

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....

, Banda Turca, Harp

Harp

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

, Strings

String section

The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...

.

Onstage: Band (Piccolo

Piccolo

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...

, Quartino

Quartino

Quartino is a small village in Ticino, Switzerland.Quartino also refers to:* an Italian word for a small carafe for wine containing 8oz...

, 4 Clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

s, 2 Horns, 4 Trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, 2 Trombones, Serpent

Serpent (instrument)

A serpent is a bass wind instrument, descended from the cornett, and a distant ancestor of the tuba, with a mouthpiece like a brass instrument but side holes like a woodwind. It is usually a long cone bent into a snakelike shape, hence the name. The serpent is closely related to the cornett,...

, Bass Drum

Bass drum

Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

)

Act 1

Act 3

On the shores of the Red Sea

Recordings

Year	Cast: Mosè, Aronne, Elcia, Faraone	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1956	Nicola Rossi-Lemeni Nicola Rossi-Lemeni Nicola Rossi Lemeni, , was a basso opera singer of mixed Italian-Russian parentage.Rossi Lemeni was born in Istanbul, Turkey, the son of an Italian colonel and a Russian mother. In his prime he was one of the most respected bassos in Italy... , Mario Filippeschi Mario Filippeschi Mario Filippeschi was an Italian tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, renowned for his ringing upper register.... , Caterina Mancini Caterina Mancini Caterina Mancini is an Italian dramatic coloratura soprano, primarily active in Italy in the 1950s.Mancini was born at Genzano di Roma. She made her debut in 1948, as Giselda in I Lombardi, in Florence... , Giuseppe Taddei Giuseppe Taddei Giuseppe Taddei was an Italian baritone, who performed mostly the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi....	Tullio Serafin Tullio Serafin -Biography:Tullio Serafin was a leading Italian opera conductor with a long career and a very broad repertoire who revived many 19th century bel canto operas by Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti to become staples of 20th century repertoire... , ??	??
1987	Ruggero Raimondi Ruggero Raimondi Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.-Early training and career:Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II... , Salvatore Fisichella Salvatore Fisichella Salvatore Fisichella is an Italian operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in bel canto operas, especially those of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini... , June Anderson June Anderson June Anderson is a Grammy Award-winning American coloratura soprano. Originally known for bel canto performances of Rossini, Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, she was the first non-Italian ever to win the prestigious Bellini d'Oro prize... , Siegmund Nimsgern Siegmund Nimsgern Siegmund Nimsgern is a German bass-baritone, born in Sankt Wendel, Saarland, Germany.After leaving school in 1960 he studied singing and musical education at the Hochschule für Musik Saar with Sibylle Fuchs, Jakob Stämpfli and Paul Lohmann.He made his debut at the Saarländisches Staatstheater in...	Claudio Scimone Claudio Scimone Claudio Scimone is an Italian conductor.He was born in Padua, Italy and studied conducting with Dmitri Mitropoulos and Franco Ferrara. He has established an international reputation as a conductor, as well as a composer. He has revived many baroque and renaissance works... , Philharmonia Orchestra Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...  and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus	Audio CD: Philips, Cat: 420 109-2
1993	Roberto Scandiuzzi, Ezio Di Cesare, Mariella Devia Mariella Devia Mariella Devia is an Italian soprano, well known for performing many roles in the bel canto repertoire.Born in Chiusavecchia, Devia trained at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Iolanda Magnoni... , Michele Pertusi	Salvatore Accardo, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli Orchestra and Chorus (Audio and video recordings of a performance (or of performances) in the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli)	DVD: House of Opera Cat: DVDBB 2113

External links

• Naxos: Mosè in Egitto
• [ Allmusic: Mosè in Egitto]