Armida (Sacchini) Explained

Italian: Armida
Type:Opera seria
Composer:Antonio Sacchini
Image Upright:0.9
Librettist:Jacopo Durandi
Language:Italian
Based On:Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata
Premiere Location:Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan

Italian: Armida is an opera seria in three acts with music by Antonio Sacchini set to a libretto by (a.k.a. Giacomo Duranti), based on the epic poem Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso. The opera was first performed during the 1772 Carnival season at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan.

In Armida, Sacchini incorporated many elements of French opera, including frequent use of chorus, ballet, and theatrical spectacle on a grand scale. Sacchini later wrote two more operas loosely based on the same story from Tasso: the 1780 London work Rinaldo, and his first French opera, Renaud, which was dedicated to Marie Antoinette.

Roles

RoleVoice typePremiere cast[1]
11 February 1772
Antonia Girelli Aguilar
Rinaldosoprano castratoVito Giuseppe Millico
UbaldobassGiovanni Battista Zonca
Idrenoalto castratoGiuseppe Cicognani
ClotarcocontraltoRosa Polidora

References

Notes and References

  1. source: excerpt from the original libretto, in italianopera.org