''Il gran Tamerlano'' ("The Great Tamerlane") is an
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 libr ...
in three 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 com ...
. Its libretto is a rework of
Giovanni de Gamerra
Giovanni de Gamerra (26 December 1742 – 29 August 1803) was an Italian cleric, a playwright, and a poet. He is best known as a prolific librettist.
Gamerra was born in Livorno, and worked from 1771 at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan ...
after Agostino Piovene. All of Mysliveček's operas are of the serious type in Italian referred to as
opera seria. Generally this style favored high vocal ranges, both for male and female singers, but for the character of Bajazette, emperor of the Turks, the composer created the only substantial role for a
bass singer that appears in any of his operas.
Performance history
The opera was first performed at the
Regio-Ducal Teatro in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
on 26 December 1771 (that is, the first day of the operatic carnival season of 1772). It was very successful when it appeared, indeed one of the most popular operas performed in Milan in its day. A number of vocal pieces from the opera were frequently copied in late eighteenth-century vocal collections, for example the magnificent duet "Di quel amabil ciglio" and the aria "Il caro e solo oggetto." ''Il gran Tamerlano'' was revived in
Pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...
in 1776, but not performed in modern times until a production was mounted in
Brno in the former
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
in 1967 (an abbreviated version was given in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
in 1977). The musicologist
Daniel E. Freeman has recently demonstrated the remarkable resemblance of the opening of the overture to ''Il gran Tamerlano'' and the opening of Mozart's Symphony No. 9, K. 73. Mysliveček visited the Mozarts frequently during all three of their trips to Italy in the early 1770s, and it is likely that Mozart knew the overture from his contacts with Mysliveček at that time.
Roles
Synopsis
Eighteenth-century Italian operas in serious style are almost always set in a distant or legendary past and are built around historical, pseudo-historical, or mythological characters. The story of ''Il gran Tamerlano'' is based on events surrounding the
Battle of Ankara
The Battle of Ankara or Angora was fought on 20 July 1402 at the Çubuk plain near Ankara, between the forces of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I and the Emir of the Timurid Empire, Timur. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to the ...
of 1402, fought between the forces of the
Ottoman sultan Bayezid I
Bayezid I ( ota, بايزيد اول, tr, I. Bayezid), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt ( ota, link=no, یلدیرم بايزيد, tr, Yıldırım Bayezid, link=no; – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He adopted ...
and the
Turco-Mongol
The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century, among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these Khanates eventuall ...
ruler
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kü ...
, who is known in English-speaking countries as Tamerlane. The result was an extraordinary military victory for Timur, who actually succeeded in capturing the Ottoman sultan. This is what made the story so attractive for treatment as an opera libretto in eighteenth-century, since stories of rulers who were captured in battle were common. In order to provide the obligatory element of a love story, the librettist Piovene concocted the character of Asteria, a daughter of the Ottoman sultan who is captured along with him and engages in love intrigues with members of Tamerlane's court. A setting in the fifteenth-century would have been rather late for an opera libretto of Mysliveček's day, but the venue in central Asia, rather than in Europe, is what preserves the sense of a serious opera in Italian having to take place in a distant location either chronologically or geographically.
Act 1
After capturing the Ottoman sultan Bajazette and his daughter Asteria, Tamerlano falls in love with Asteria, who has no interest in him. Asteria is rather love with the Greek commander Andronico. Tamerlano has the idea of offering Andronico his own kingdom and the hand of his current betrothed, Irene, if he can persuade Bajazette to give his permission to allow him to marry his daughter Asteria. For her part, Irene is shocked at Tamerlano's behavior, and vows to attempt to regain his love. Tamerlano, completely infatuated with Asteria, pressures Baiazette more and more to give his permission to marry Asteria, to the point where he is threatened with death. Asteria has the idea of pretending to be in love with Tamerlano in order to save her father's life.
Act 2
Bajazette is determined not to see his daughter married to Tamerlano, no matter what the penalty. Tamerlano threatens Bajazette with death again, and Asteria does agree to him to spare her father. Asteria intends to kill Tamerlano to prevent the wedding. Tamerlano learns of this and seeks revenge.
Act 3
Tamerlano seeks to humiliate Asteria by forcing her to work as a maid in his work as Baiazette watches her. Asteria tries to poison Tamerlano when she serves him a glass, but Irene, earlier disguised, saves his life. Tamerlano reflects on the obvious love between Asteria and Adronico, and permits them to marry. He decides to take Irene back as his betrothed. Bajezette, weary of life and humiliated by his defeat at the Battle of Ankara, poisons himself with the same poison intended for Tamerlano.
Vocal set pieces
Act 1, scene 1 - Aria of Bajazette, "Superbo di mia sorte"
Act 1, scene 4 - Aria of Tamerlano, "Vanne la sorte mia"
Act 1, scene 5 - Aria of Andronico, "Chi non ode i miei sospiri"
Act 1, scene 7 - Aria of Tamerlano, "Che per voi sospiro"
Act 1, scene 10 - Aria of Asteria, "Sento nell'alma mia"
Act 1, scene 13 - Aria of Irene, "Tradito ed appresso"
Act 1, scene 14 - Chorus, "Già ti cede il mondo intero"
Act 1, scene 15 - Duet of Tamerlano and Asteria, "Di quel amabil ciglio"
Act 2, scene 2 - Aria of Bajazette, "In mezzo alle tempeste"
Act 2, scene 4 - Aria of Andronico, "Se ti mirre se quest'alma"
Act 2, scene 5 - Aria of Bajazette, "Sazia il tuo fiero orgoglio"
Act 2, scene 6 - Aria of Asteria, "Cadrò, sì cada, io stessa"
Act 2, scene 8 - Aria of Irene, "Quell'empio cor istabile"
Act 2, scene 9 - Aria of Tamerlano, "Il caro e solo oggetto"
Act 2, scene 10 - Aria of Idaspe, "Fra il mar turbato, e nero"
Act 2, scene 11 - Aria of Asteria, "Nacqui in seno alla sventura"
Act 2, scene 12 - Chorus, "Lieti sposi, ah venga Imene"
Act 2, scene 13 - Quartet for Tamerlano, Bajazette, Asteria, and Andronico, "Smanio, veneggio e fremo"
Act 3, scene 2 - Aria of Bajazette, "Pria di salir"
Act 3, scene 4 - Aria of Tamerlano, "M'offende il nemico"
Act 3, scene 7 - Aria of Asteria, "Non mi vedo"
Act 3, scene 9 - Chorus, "Doppo il nembo e la procella"
Recordings
Three vocal excerpts drawn from the role of Baiazette are included in the collection ''Karel Berman: Operatic Recital'', Czech Radio CR04372 (2009),
Karel Berman, bass.
References
;Sources
*Freeman, Daniel E. ''Josef Mysliveček, "Il Boemo"''. Sterling Heights, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 2009.
Karadar Classical Music DictionaryIncludes full libretto of Mysliveček's ''Il gran Tamerlano'', 1772.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gran Tamerlano
Operas
Italian-language operas
Opera seria
Operas by Josef Mysliveček
1772 operas
Operas based on real people
Cultural depictions of Timur
Operas set in the 14th century
Operas set in the 15th century
Operas set in Turkey