''Acis y Galatea'' is a

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of ...

Antonio de Literes Antoni de Literes (18 June 1673 Majorca – 18 January 1747 Madrid), also known as Antonio de Literes or Antoni Literes Carrión) was a Spanish composer of '' zarzuelas''. As with other national forms of baroque opera, Literes's stage wor ...

to a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by José de Cañizares. It was first performed on 19 December 1708 in Madrid at the theatre in the

Buen Retiro Palace Buen Retiro Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio del Buen Retiro'') in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect Alonso Carbonell (c. 1590–1660) and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recrea ...

for the 25th birthday of King Philip V.Detailed analysis
, mundoclasico.com (in English) It is based on

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's story of the Acis and Galatea myth in his ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

''. The

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

aria "Confiado jilguerillo" he confident goldfinchis the opera's most popular number. A recording by

Al Ayre Español Al Ayre Español is a vocal and instrumental ensemble specialized on early music founded in 1988 by harpsichordist Eduardo López Banzo.Interview with Eduardo López Banzo owww.odb-opera.com/ref> The name of the ensemble was inspired by the titl ...

was issued on

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (founded 1958) is a German classical music record label. It was founded by Rudolf Ruby and based in Freiburg, Breisgau. The company was acquired by BMG Music in 1992 and is now part of Sony Music Entertainment. Ruby had Alf ...

in 2001.

References

External links

* * *{{YouTube, 5BDMY9ncOsw, Complete video recording 1708 operas Zarzuelas Spanish-language operas Operas based on Metamorphoses Baroque compositions Operas