' is the name of a number of Italian

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s, all based on a text by

Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...

. ' is the Italian form of the name of the king

Artaxerxes I of Persia Artaxerxes I (, peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. He may have been the " Artas ...

. There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The

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 ...

was originally written for, and first set to music by

Leonardo Vinci Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian composer known chiefly for his 40 or so operas; comparatively little of his work in other genres survives. A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera, his influence on subseque ...

in 1730 for Rome (''

Artaserse ' is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. ' is the Italian form of the name of the king Artaxerxes I of Persia. There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The libretto was originally written for, ...

''). It was subsequently set by

Johann Adolph Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

in 1730 (''

'') for Venice and in 1760 for Naples, by

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

in 1741 for Milan, by

Pietro Chiarini Pietro Chiarini (circa 1717; Brescia – 1765; Cremona) was an Italian composer. From 1738 to 1744, he was in Venice where four of his operas and an oratorio were performed. Later he went to Cremona, where in 1754 he wrote and presented the inter ...

in 1741 for Verona, by

Carl Heinrich Graun Carl Heinrich Graun (7 May 1704 – 8 August 1759) was a German composer and tenor. Along with Johann Adolph Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time. Biography Graun was born in Wahrenbrüc ...

in 1743 for Stuttgart, by

Domènec Terradellas Domènec Terradellas (baptized 13 February 1713, Barcelona – 20 May 1751, Rome) was a Spanish opera composer. The birthdate is sometimes incorrectly given as 1711. Carreras i Bulbena did extensive research in contemporary documents, such as b ...

in 1744 for Venice, by

Baldassare Galuppi Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. ...

in 1749 for Vienna, by

Johann Christian Bach Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical period (music), Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for ...

in 1760 for Turin, by

Josef Mysliveček Josef Mysliveček (9 March 1737 – 4 February 1781) was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with significant comp ...

in 1774 for Naples (''

)'', by

Marcos Portugal Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal (24 March 1762 – 17 February 1830), known as Marcos Portugal, or Marco Portogallo, was a Portuguese-born Brazilian classical music, classical composer, who achieved great international fame for his operas. ...

in 1806 for Lisbon and many other times. The text was often altered.

Thomas Arne Thomas Augustine Arne (; 12 March 17105 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!" and the song "A-Hunting We Will Go", the latter composed for a 1777 production of ''The Beggar's Opera'', whic ...

's 1762 '' Artaxerxes'' is set to an English libretto that is based on Metastasio's.

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's aria for soprano and orchestra "

Conservati fedele "" (Köchel catalogue, K. 23) is a concert aria for soprano and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. History Mozart composed the aria in October 1765 while staying at The Hague during the Mozart family grand tour, family's British-European tour w ...

" ( K. 23, 1765) is set to the parting verses of Mandane (Artaserse's sister) at the end of the first scene. The opera was famously performed in 1734 as a

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

of songs by various composers such as

Johann Adolf Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

Attilio Ariosti Attilio Malachia Ariosti (or Frate Ottavio) (5 November 1666 – 1729) was a Servite Friar and Italian composer in the Baroque style, born in Bologna. He produced more than 30 operas and oratorios, numerous cantatas and instrumental works. Life ...

Nicola Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included compose ...

and

Riccardo Broschi Riccardo Broschi (c. 1698 – 1756) was a composer of baroque music and the brother of the opera singer Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli. Life Broschi was born in Naples, the son of Salvatore Broschi, a composer and chapelmaster of the Cathe ...

. It was in this that Broschi's brother,

Farinelli Farinelli (; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782) was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli h ...

, sang one of his best-known arias, "".

Recording

*2016: Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani (Artaserse),

Maria Grazia Schiavo Maria Grazia Schiavo () is an Italian classical soprano who is particularly known for her performances of music from the baroque period. She has performed with major opera houses in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and has appeared in c ...

(Mandane),

Sonia Prina Sonia Prina (born 30 November 1975) is an Italian operatic contralto who has had an active career in concerts and operas since the mid-1990s. She is particularly known for her appearances in Baroque operas and for her performances of the Baroque c ...

(Artabano), Franco Fagioli (Arbace), Rosa Bove (Semira), Antonio Giovannini (Megabise), Ensemble Barocco dell'Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, Corrado Rovaris. Label: Dynamic CDS7715

References

* Weinstock, Herbert, ''The Opera: A History of its Creation and Performance: 1600–1941'', Simon and Schuster, 1961, p. 64.

External links

''Artaserse'' libretto (PDF, RTF, TXT)Libretto
*Torre, Robert

''Discourses in Music'': The Journal of the University of Toronto Music Graduate Association, Volume 6, Number 1 (Summer 2006) {{Authority control Libretti by Metastasio 1730 books