''Dafne in lauro'' (Daphne as a laurel tree) is a chamber opera, a ''componimento per camera'', composed by Johann Joseph Fux 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 ...

Pietro Pariati Pietro Pariati ( Reggio Emilia, 27 March 1665- Vienna, 14 October 1733) was an Italian poet and librettist. He was initially secretary to Rinaldo d'Este (1655–1737), Duke of Modena.Xavier de Courville -''Un artisan de la rénovation théàtral av ...

and performed for the imperial court before dinner on 1 October 1714 in the Favorita garden, Vienna, for the birthday of

Emperor Charles VI , house = Habsburg , spouse = , issue = , issue-link = #Children , issue-pipe = , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date ...

. Harry White, ''Johann Joseph Fux and the Music of the Austro-Italian Baroque'', 2017. "This was ''Dafne in Lauro'', which was first performed in the Favorita garden before dinner on 1 October, 1714." The two main roles, Apollo and Dafne, with four arias each, were sung by Orsini and Maria Conti-Landini; the soprano part, Diana, was ... the sixteen-year-old soprano castrato Giovanni Vincenzi played Amore – often sung by boys – and the tenor Garghetti sang the role of Mercurio. The opera is based on the myth of

Apollo and Daphne Apollo and Daphne is a transformation myth from ancient Greek mythology, retold by Hellenistic and Roman authors in the form of an amorous vignette. History The earliest known source of this myth is Parthenius, a Greek poet who lived during th ...

Roles

*Apollo, with four arias,

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

castrato A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to ...

– Gaetano Orsini (1667–1750) *Dafne, also with four arias – Maria Conti-Landini *Diana,

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 ...

– Regina Schoonjans *Amore, sixteen-year-old soprano castrato – Giovanni Vincenzi *Mercurio,

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

– Silvio Garghetti

Recordings

*''Dafne in lauro'', Mieke van der Sluis, Lina Akerlund,

Gérard Lesne Gérard Lesne (; born 15 July 1956) is a French countertenor. He is also the founder and artistic director of the baroque music ensemble, Il Seminario Musicale. Life and career Gérard Lesne was born in Montmorency, Val-d'Oise. He was originall ...

, Silvia Piccolo, Martin Klietmann. Clemencic Consort & La Capella Vocal Ensemble;

René Clemencic René Clemencic (27 February 1928 – 8 March 2022) was an Austrian composer, recorder player, harpsichordist, conductor and clavichord player. Biography Born in Vienna, Austria, Clemencic was educated at the Vienna University and studied further ...

; recorded 1990, Paris, 2CD Nuova Era *Dafne in Lauro, Conductor: Alfredo Bernardini; Zefiro, Recorded: June 2019,

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

- CD: ORF, Cat: A488 *''Dafne in lauro'', Ensemble 415

Chiara Banchini Chiara Banchini is a Switzerland, Swiss violinist, involved in the historical performance practice movement. She specializes in the music of the Baroque music, Baroque. Banchini was born in 1946 in Lugano, Switzerland. She graduated from the Gen ...

2CD 2021 Arcana

References

1714 operas Operas based on Metamorphoses Italian-language operas Operas {{Italian-opera-stub