''Ezio'' is an eighteenth-century 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 ...

in 3 acts by the Czech composer

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 ...

. It was the composer's first setting of 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 the Italian poet

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 ...

that was first performed with music by

Pietro Auletta Pietro Antonio Auletta (1698–1771) was an Italian composer known mainly for his operas. His opera buffa ''Orazio'' gained popularity after being mis-attributed to Pergolesi Pergolesi is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Giov ...

in 1728, one of the most popular of the Metastasian librettos in Mysliveček's day. The story is based on incidents from the lives of the 5th-century Roman emperor

Valentinian III Valentinian III ( la, Placidus Valentinianus; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by powerful generals vying ...

and his general Aetius. For a performance in the 1770s, it would only be expected that a libretto of such age would be abbreviated and altered to suit contemporary operatic taste. The cuts and changes in the text made for the 1775 performance of Mysliveček's opera are not attributable. All of Mysliveček's operas are of the serious type in Italian language referred to as

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abo ...

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the

Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent t ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

on 30 May 1775 in honor of the

nameday In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, among other parts of Christendom. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively that of a ...

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

, the king of Naples. It was the last of a series of four operas composed by Mysliveček for the Teatro San Carlo between 1773 and 1775: the others were '' Romolo ed Ersilia'' (1773), ''

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, ...

'' (1774), and ''

Demofoonte ''Demofonte'' (also ''Demofoonte''; ''Il Demofoonte''; ''Demofoonte, ré di Tracia'' ing of Thrace ''Démophon''; ''Demophontes''; or ''Dirce, L'usurpatore innocente'' irce, the Innocent Usurper is an opera seria libretto by Metastasio. The lib ...

'' (1775). The last two of these commissions were made possible by the failure of

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 ...

to make good on a commitment to the management of the theater. ''Ezio'' (and all three of the other operas from this series) were very well received by the Neapolitan musical public. The cast was distinguished, as would be expected at the San Carlo; it included the

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 ...

Gaspare Pacchierotti Gaspare Pacchierotti (21 May 1740 – 28 October 1821) was a mezzo-soprano castrato, and one of the most famous singers of his time. Training and first appearances Details of his early life are scarce. It is possible that he studied with Mario Bi ...

. Mysliveček's ''Ezio'' of 1775 was first revived in modern times in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1937.

Connection with Mozart

The musicologist Daniel E. Freeman has demonstrated that

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 ...

used Mysliveček's scene and aria, "Misera, dove son?/Ah, non so io che parlo," as a partial model for his own setting of the same texts, K. 369.See Daniel E. Freeman, "Music for the Noble Amateur: Mozart's Scene and Aria 'Misera, dove son?/Ah, non so io che parlo,' K. 369," in ''Mozart-Jahrbuch 2000'' (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2002): 47-71.

Roles

Vocal set pieces

Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Valentiniano, "Se tu la reggi al volo"
Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Ezio, "Pensa a serbarmi, o cara"
Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Varo, "Più lieti imagini" non-Metastasian text
Act I, scene 5 - Aria of Fulvia, "Caro padre, a me non dei"
Act I, scene 6 - Accompanied recitative for Massimo, "Che sventura è la mia"
Act I, scene 6 - Aria of Massimo, "Il nocchier che si figura"
Act I, scene 8 - Aria of Onoria, "Quanto mai felici siete"
Act I, scene 12 - Accompanied recitative for Ezio and Fulvia, "Fu questo il primo oggetto"
Act I, scene 12 - Duet for Ezio and Fulvia, "Mia vita, se m'ami" non-Metastasian text Act II, scene 3 - Aria of Valentiniano, "Vi fida lo sposo"
Act II, scene 4 - Aria of Massimo, "Va, dal furor portata"
Act II, scene 6 - Aria of Ezio, "Recagli quell'acciaro"
Act II, scene 7 - Aria of Varo, "Mostra per poco almeno" non-Metastasian text
Act II, scene 9 - Aria of Onoria, "Fin che per te mi palpita"
Act II, scene 11 - Aria of Ezio, "Caro mio bene, addio"
Act II, scene 12 - Aria of Valentiniano, "A tuo dispetto ingrata" non-Metastasian text
Act II, scene 13 - Accompanied recitative for Fulvia, "Misera, dove son?"
Act II, scene 13 - Aria of Fulvia, "Ah, non son io che parlo" Act III, scene 2 - Aria of Ezio, "Mi dona, mi rende" non-Metastasian text
Act III, scene 6 - Aria of Massimo, "Tergi l'ingiuste lagrime"
Act III, scene 7 - Aria of Fulvia, "Dei clementi amici" non-Metastasian text

Score

The complete score of Mysliveček's ''Ezio'' of 1775 is available for study online on the Italian website Internet Culturale in the form of a reproduction of a manuscript once in the possession of the Teatro San Carlo of Naples.

References

External links

Complete score in manuscript available for viewing and downloading at http://www.internetculturale.it (Subcategory: Digital Contents) {{Metastasio 1775 operas Works set in the 5th century Fiction set in ancient Rome Italian-language operas Operas by Josef Mysliveček Opera seria Operas Opera world premieres at the Teatro San Carlo Valentinian III Cultural depictions of Flavius Aetius