Argippo Explained

Argippo is an opera libretto by Domenico Lalli, which in Giovanni Porta's setting premiered in Venice in 1717. Claudio Nicola Stampa's reworked version of the libretto was set as L'Argippo by . This opera was performed in Milan in 1722.

Antonio Vivaldi's Argippo, RV 697, based on Stampa's version of the libretto, was staged in two different versions in 1730, first in Vienna (RV 697-A), and later in Prague (RV 697-B). The music of both of these versions is lost. Vivaldi's setting of the Argippo libretto partially survives in a pasticcio, RV Anh. 137, which, in the 21st century, was the basis for a reconstruction of the Prague version of Vivaldi's opera.

Libretto

Domenico Lalli's Il gran Mogol libretto was set by Francesco Mancini, and performed in the Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, in December 1713.[1] [2] In the next two decades this libretto was set as Argippo by several composers:[3]

Roles

RolePorta 1717Fiorè 1722Vivaldi 2008 (rec.)[11] [12]
Voice t.CastCastVoice t.Cast
Argippo, kingsopranoValentino UrbaniGiuliano AlbertinimezzoVeronika Mráčková Fučíková
Tisifaro, mogoltenorGaetano BorghiGio. Battista PinaccibaritoneZdeněk Kapl
Zanaida, daughter of TisifaroaltoDiana VicoVittoria TesimezzoPavla Štěpničková
Osira, wife of ArgipposopranoAntonia GavazziAnna GuglielminasopranoJana Bínová-Koucká
Silvero, secretly married to ZanaidaaltoGio. Battista MinelliCarlo ScalzisopranoBarbora Sojková
Mesio, in love with OsirabassAntinoro ClaudiiMaria Antonina Tozzi

Synopsis

The opera, in three acts, is set in an Indian royal court and centers around a young princess smitten by a dishonest suitor.[13]

1717–1722

Porta's setting of Lalli's Argippo libretto was first performed in Venice in 1717. Fiorè's setting of Stampa's adaptation of the Argippo libretto was first performed in Milan in 1722.

Porta

Porta's Argippo was first performed on 31 October 1717 in Venice, in the Teatro San Cassiano. Both the printed libretto (titled L'Argippo: Drama per musica) and the manuscript score (titled Argippo) of this performance survive. A four-page dedication by Lalli precedes the text of his libretto. There is no sinfonia (overture) in the score. There are fifteen scenes in the first act, fourteen in the second act, and nine in the last act. The text in the score closely follows the original libretto. The printed libretto contains text variants for nine arias, but it is not known whether these alternative texts were set by Porta.

In 1722, Porta's opera was re-staged in Venice, this time in the Teatro San Moisè.[14] Also for this production, Lalli wrote a dedication in the printed libretto.

Fiorè

L'Argippo was staged in the Regio Ducal Teatro in Milan in honour of the 31st birthday of Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, which fell on 28 August 1722. The dedication, dated 27 August 1722 in the extant libretto, was written by Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio and addressed at, who was the then-time Austrian governor of the Duchy of Milan. Stampa added an introduction to this revised version of Lalli's libretto, which was set by Fiorè.

The libretto describes three stage settings for the fourteen scenes of the first act, while the second act (twelve scenes) and the third act (eleven scenes) each have two different stage settings. A reprint of the libretto was published in 2018.[15]

Vivaldi's RV 697, pasticcios and a reconstruction

In a letter he wrote in 1737, Vivaldi mentions he had been called to Vienna: according to Michael Talbot, this was likely on invitation by the Theater am Kärntnertor where the first version of his Argippo, RV 697, was presented as an intermezzo in 1730. Later that year, a somewhat more extended version of this opera was performed by a company of mostly Italian performers in Franz Anton von Sporck's private theatre in Prague. A few years later, this Italian ensemble performed in Regensburg, where a score with at least six arias from Vivaldi's Argippo was recovered.[16]

1730

Two closely related German versions of the Argippo libretto were published in 1730:

Both contain an aria titled "Gelido in ogni vena", on a text extracted from Metastasio's Siroe, re di Persia libretto, and which Vivaldi had for instance also inserted in his Farnace opera, there based on music from his L'Inverno concerto. The libretto variants were based on Stampa's adaptation of Lalli's text, but were transmitted without their respective settings. Only the Prague libretto names Vivaldi as composer: because of the similarities between both texts Vivaldi is however considered the composer in both cases. The Vienna version, which was probably performed before the Prague version, received the RV 697-A number, and RV 697-B was assigned to the opera performed in the Sporck Theater.

Pasticcios

RV Anh. 137 is an Argippo pasticcio that survives in two manuscripts:

This pasticcio contains at least six arias by Vivaldi.

Another Argippo pasticcio was performed in Brno in 1733. The libretto of this production survives without music: as a pasticcio it may have contained arias by Vivaldi.

Arias in RV Anh. 137 and RV 697 (text matches highlighted)
RV Anh. 137RV 697[19] Other
Vivaldi
scAriaComposerAria
I sc1Se lento ancora il fulmineVivaldiI, 1Se lento ancora il fulmine
I sc2Rege son che combattutoHasse
I sc3Del fallire il rimorsoVivaldiI, 2Del fallire il rimorso
I sc4Anche in mezzo a perigliosaGaleazziI, 3Tuona spesso all'aer cieco
I sc5Qual disarmata navePescettiI, 4Vidi appena un sol baleno
I sc6Dov'è la morte per mePescettiI, 5Non v'è perdono
II sc1Che gran pena trafiggeHasseII, 1Del giusto mio dolore
II sc2Non temer e dati pace?II, 2Chi quel Timor condanna
II sc3Bell'idolo amatoPorpora
II sc4Un certo non so cheVivaldiII, 3Un certo non so che
II sc5,6II, 4Io vorrei col sangue, e vita
II sc7Io son rea dell'onor mioVivaldiII, 5Io son rea dell'onor mio
II sc8A piedi miei svenato?II, 6Suole ancora lamentarsi
II sc[9]Da più venti combattutaGaleazzi
III sc1Mi sento nel core un raggioPescettiIII, 1Mi sento nel core
III sc2Vado a morir per teFiorèIII, 2Vado a morir per te
III sc3Vi sarà stella clementePescettiIII, 3Gelido in ogni venaRV 711-D/II:6
III sc4Se d'un amor tirannoVinciIII, 4L'incerto tuo pensiere
III sc5Se la bella tortorella?III, 5Un pensiero
III sc6III, 6In bosco romitoRV 702-B/III:7
III sc7Che farai perdoneraiVivaldiIII, 7Che farai? Perdonerai

Recovering Argippo music

In 2008 Ondřej Macek presented his reconstruction of Vivaldi's Argippo, which he had based on extant librettos, on the Vivaldi arias in the Regensburg pasticcio score—which he had recovered two years earlier—, and on other music the Venetian composer had written around 1730.[20] Macek performed this opera with the Hofmusici Baroque Ensemble, first in Prague, and later in Venice. A live recording of the Venice performance, which with inclusion of sinfonias derived from Vivaldi concertos lasts around two hours, was issued on CD in 2009.[21] Argippo Resurrected is a 2009 Czech documentary about Macek's recovery, reconstruction and performance of Vivaldi's Argippo music.[22]

The full version of the RV Anh. 137 pasticcio was recovered in Darmstadt, where it had previously been classified under an erroneous title, and misattributed to Ernst Christian Hesse. A digitized facsimile of this score was made available on the website of the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt.

Further reading

References

Notes

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/157366587 Il gran Mogol : drama per musica / di Domenico Lalli ; da rappresentarsi nel Teatro di S. Bartolomeo nel giorno 26. di decembre 1713 ; dedicato alla grandezza impareggiabile dell'Eccellentiss. signor conte VVirrico di Daun, vicerè, e capitan generale in questo regno di Napoli, &c.
  2. Carlo Antonio de Rosa marchese di Villarosa (1840). Memorie dei compositori di musica del regno di Napoli: raccolte dal marchese di Villarosa. Naples: Stamperia reale, p. 110.
  3. Freeman, Daniel E. (1992). The Opera Theater of Count Franz Anton Von Sporck in Prague. Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press., p. 166
  4. website
  5. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00049055-0 L'Argippo – Porta, Giovanni ; Lalli, Domenico – 1717
  6. http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id434533297 Mus.2444-F-1
  7. Domenico Pietropaolo, Mary Ann Parker (2011). The Baroque Libretto: Italian Operas and Oratorios in the Thomas Fisher Library at the University of Toronto. University of Toronto Press., pp. 186187
  8. Claudio Nicola Stampa, after Domenico Lalli (1722). L'Argippo; drama per musica, da rappresentarsi nel Regio Ducal Teatro di Milano, in occasione di celebrarsi il giorno natalizio della cesarea cattolica Maestà di Elsabetta Cristina, imperatrice, regina delle Spagne, &c., &c. Milan: Giuseppe Richino Malatesta. (also website)
  9. Freeman, Daniel E. (1995). "Antonio Vivaldi and the Sporck Theater in Prague", pp. 117–140 in Janáček and Czech Music: Proceedings of The International Conference (St. Louis 1988). Pendragon Press., pp. 122, 129.
  10. http://operadata.stanford.edu/catalog/10106761 Argippo: Antonio Costantini
  11. https://www.dynamic.it/prodotti/pdf/CDS626.pdf Vivaldi: Argippo – English Libretto
  12. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Jan10/Vivaldi_Argippo_CDS626.htm Vivaldi: Argippo
  13. https://operabaroque.fr/VIVALDI_ARGIPPO.htm Argippo
  14. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00049271-9 L'Argippo – Porta, Giovanni ; Lalli, Domenico – 1722
  15. (2018). L'Argippo: Drama per Musica, da Rappresentarsi Nel Regio Ducal Teatro di Milano, in Occasione di Celebrarsi IL Giorno Natalizio della Cesarea Cattolica Maestà di Elsabetta Cristina Imperatrice, Regina Delle Spagne, &C., &C. Forgotten Books.
  16. Rob Cameron (3 May 2008). Vivaldi work revived 278 years on. BBC News
  17. http://gso.gbv.de/DB=2.1/PPNSET?PPN=572662165 Musicalisches Zwischen-Spiel, Genannt: Der Argippo – In Welscher Sprach vorzustellen Auf dem Von Ihro Röm. Kayserl. und Königl. Cathol. Majest. Privilegirten Theatro in Wienn, Verteutscht von Rademin
  18. http://tudigit.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/show/Mus-Ms-245 Mus Ms 245
  19. https://www.allmusic.com/performance/argippo-mq0001376101 Antonio Vivaldi: Argippo
  20. David Randall (4 May 2008). Vivaldi's long-lost opera returns to Prague after 278 years: After hunting the missing manuscript down in a German archive, Czech conductor revives 'Argippo'. The Independent.
  21. https://www.allmusic.com/album/antonio-vivaldi-argippo-mw0001415904 Hofmusici Baroque Ensemble / Ondrej Macek / Barbora Sojková – Antonio Vivaldi: Argippo
  22. https://dokweb.net/database/films/synopsis/c3ca43c7-fda5-4063-851d-3748376b99cd/argippo-resurrected Argippo Resurrected