''Camilla'' was an opera first performed at
Drury Lane in London on 30 April 1706. The libretto was based on ''Il Trionfo di Camilla, regina de' Volsci'' by
Silvio Stampiglia
Silvio Stampiglia (14 March 1664 – 27 January 1725) was an Italian poet, librettist, and founder member of the Accademia dell'Arcadia under the pen name of Palemone Licurio. Numerous Italian composer set his libretti to music, particularly Carlo ...
, translated into English verse by
Owen Swiny
Owen Swiny (Also spelled McSwiny, Swiney, MacSwiny or MacSwinny) (1676, near Enniscorthy, Ireland – 2 October 1754) was an Irish theatre impresario and art dealer active in London known for his work in popularising Italian opera in London ...
,
Peter Motteux, or others.
Authorship of the music for the original is attributed variously to
Giovanni Bononcini
Giovanni Bononcini (or Buononcini) (18 July 1670 – 9 July 1747) (sometimes cited also as Giovanni Battista Bononcini) was an Italian Baroque composer, cellist, singer and teacher, one of a family of string players and composers.
Biography
E ...
and to his brother Marc Antonio.
Music for the London version was adapted by
Nicola Haym.
The opera was the first to be sung in a mixture of English and Italian, and it was one of the first London operas in which the
castrato Nicolò Grimaldi
Nicolò Francesco Leonardo Grimaldi (5 April 1673 (bap) – 1 January 1732) was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato who is best remembered today for his association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in two of whose early operas he sang ...
(known as Nicolini) performed.
There were three separate productions of ''Camilla'' in London which together had 111 or 112 performances from 1706 to 1728, making it the most popular and successful work of its period, after ''
The Beggar's Opera
''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...
''.
Roles and plot
The story is based very loosely on the mythological figure of
Camilla in
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...
''. The characters are:
Camilla, heiress to the throne of the Volscians, disguised as Dorinda, a shepherdess (soprano); Prenesto, prince of Latium (soprano); Latinus, king of Latium (tenor); Lavinia, his daughter, (soprano);
Turnus
Turnus ( grc, Τυρρηνός, Tyrrhênós) was the legendary King of the Rutuli in Roman history, and the chief antagonist of the hero Aeneas in Virgil's ''Aeneid''.
According to the ''Aeneid'', Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph V ...
, king of the Rutuli, disguised as Armidoro, a Moorish slave (soprano); Metius, confidant of Camilla (tenor); Linco, servant of Camilla (bass); Tullia, Lavinia's maid (tenor); and a Hunter (tenor).
Act I: Camilla, disguised as a shepherdess, is hiding in the Volscian countryside and plans to overthrow the usurper King Latinus from the throne that is rightfully hers. A group of hunters arrives and one of their number, Prenesto, son of Latinus, is menaced by a boar. When Camilla shoots down the boar, he falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Lavinia, sister of Prenesto, is concealing her lover the enemy king
Turnus
Turnus ( grc, Τυρρηνός, Tyrrhênós) was the legendary King of the Rutuli in Roman history, and the chief antagonist of the hero Aeneas in Virgil's ''Aeneid''.
According to the ''Aeneid'', Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph V ...
in the palace, disguised as a slave. King Latino presses her to find a husband. Prenesto gives Camilla access to Latino's entourage where, allied with Metius, she plots to overthrow the king.
Act II: Amorous intrigues and political conspiracies continue. Before the statues of her ancestors, Camilla swears revenge against Latinus and turns to the people to stir up the struggle. Meanwhile, Turnus, observed by Latinus, brings Lavinia poison and a dagger, offering her a choice of deaths as a way out of her impasse. However, unable to kill her himself, he confesses his real identity to Latinus, offering his own life in exchange for hers. Moved by this appeal, Latinus accepts him as a son-in-law.
Act III: Latinus and Turnus ally themselves against Camilla, whose identity is meanwhile discovered by Lavinia's maid. Taken prisoner, she is freed by Prenesto, who continues to love her despite the hatred between their families. During a banquet a popular uprising is announced: Camilla and her allies defeat the troops of the Latin king. Love triumphs over political rivalry and marriage between Camilla and Prenesto ends the discord.
Performance history
The adaptation by McSwiney and Haym cut as much of the
recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...
as possible from libretto, as this was an unfamiliar form in English and difficult to write as effectively as in Italian. While the first performances were entirely in English, some sections were turned back into Italian to accommodate foreign singers, so that the performances took place in a changing mix of two languages.
The original cast was: Holcomb (Prenesto), Hughs (Turnus), Lewis Ramondon (Metius), Richard Leveridge (Linco),
Catherine Tofts
Catherine Tofts or Katherine Tofts (died 1756) was the first English singer who sang Italian opera in England.
Life
About 1704, the competition between Tofts and Margherita de l'Épine was in earnest. Perhaps to illustrate the famed rivalry, M ...
(Camilla), Joanna Maria Lindelheim (Lavinia), and Mrs Lyndsey (Tullia).
From December 6, 1707 the cast changed and performances were staged in a mix of Italian and English. The role of Turnus was taken by
Valentino Urbani
Valentino Urbani (born in Udine; ''fl.'' 1690–1722) was an Italian mezzo-soprano or alto castrato who sang for the composer George Frideric Handel in the 18th century. He was known by the stage name Valentini. He sang the role of Eustazio at t ...
(Valentini),
of Lavinia by Joanna Maria Lindelheim, and of Prenesto by
Margherita de l'Épine
Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It also is a surname. As a word, in Italian it means "daisy".
Given name
As a name, it may refer to:
*Margherita Aldobrandini (1588–1646), Duchess consort of Parma
* Margherita de' Medici (1612 ...
. The other roles were sung in English by Purbeck Turner (Latinus), Littleton Ramondon (Metius),
Richard Leveridge
Richard Leveridge (or Leueridge) (19 July 1670 – 22 March 1758) was an English bass singer of the London stage and a composer of baroque music, including many popular songs.
Life
Richard Leveridge was born in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Field ...
(Linco),
Catherine Tofts
Catherine Tofts or Katherine Tofts (died 1756) was the first English singer who sang Italian opera in England.
Life
About 1704, the competition between Tofts and Margherita de l'Épine was in earnest. Perhaps to illustrate the famed rivalry, M ...
(Camilla) and Mary Lindsey (Tullia).
From February 7, a new castrato, Giuseppe Cassani, took over the role of Metius. He was extremely unpopular and audiences hissed him
and did not appear after February 10. Ramondon replaced him, presumably in English, from February 21.
On 25 January 1709 Nicolini Grimaldi (Nicolini) took over the role of Prenesto, and Catherine Tofts the role of Camilla.
There were nine performances in the first season, 21 the following season, and fourteen the one after. It was revived with (with Bononcini's original score rather than Haym's adaptation) in 1717, 1719 and 1726–28.
The opera was so popular that five editions of the libretto were published by
Jacob Tonson
Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the Elder (1655–1736), was an eighteenth-century English bookseller and publisher.
Tonson published editions of John Dryden and John Milton, and is best known for having obtained a copyright ...
in 1726 alone.
It was performed at court for the birthday of
Queen Anne in February 1707.
The original Italian opera by Stampiglia and Bononcini's premiered in Naples at the Teatro di S Bartolomeo on 27 December 1696. It went in to become the most successful work of its period; the libretto was used in 38 known productions before 1767. Bononcini's score was substantially used in 27 of these
while there were 38 settings by other composers including Leo, Vinci (Parma 1725) and Porpora.
References
External links
digital copy of the libretto for ''Camilla''digital copy of the score for ''Camilla''{{Authority control
Opera in England
Italian-language operas
English-language operas
1706 operas
Operas
Operas by multiple composers
Operas by Giovanni Bononcini
Operas based on the Aeneid