''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (''The Ballet of the Female Ingrates'') is a semi-dramatic

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

by the Italian composer

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is consider ...

set to a libretto by

Ottavio Rinuccini Ottavio Rinuccini (20 January 1562 – 28 March 1621) was an Italian poet, courtier, and opera librettist at the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. In collaborating with Jacopo Peri to produce the first opera, '' Dafne'', i ...

. It was first performed in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

on Wednesday, 4 June 1608 as part of the wedding celebrations for Francesco Gonzaga (the son of Monteverdi's patron Duke Vincenzo of Mantua) and Margaret of Savoy. Both Vincenzo and Francesco Gonzaga took part in the dancing. Monteverdi also composed the opera ''

L'Arianna ' ( SV 291, ''Ariadne'') is the lost second opera by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. One of the earliest operas in general, it was composed in 1607–1608 and first performed on 28 May 1608, as part of the musical festivities for a royal wed ...

'' (to another

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. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

by Rinuccini) and the music for the prologue to Guarini's play ''L'idropica'' for the occasion. ''Il ballo delle ingrate'' was published as part of Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals (''Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi'') in 1638. This printed version probably contains revisions Monteverdi made for a revival in Vienna. The virtuosic

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

writing for Plutone is closer in style to Monteverdi's late operas than to that of his ''

Orfeo Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015. History The Orfeo music label was registered ...

'' (1607). The musicologist Paolo Fabbri believes that the revisions were made for a performance to celebrate the coronation of

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608, in Graz – 2 April 1657, in Vienna) was from 1621 Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary from 1625, King of Croatia and Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 until his death in 1657. ...

in 1636. The sudden death of the previous emperor meant Monteverdi had to produce music at short notice, so he reworked ''Il ballo delle ingrate'', removing the references to the Mantuan wedding.Fabbri p.234

Roles

Synopsis

The stage shows the mouth of the Underworld. Venus and Cupid visit Pluto, King of the Underworld, and complain that the arrows from Cupid's bow are no longer effective on the women of Mantua, who are scorning their lovers. Cupid asks Pluto to bring the spirits of women who rejected love up from the Underworld to show what fate awaits them in the afterlife. Pluto agrees and the spirits of the "female ingrates" enter and dance "two by two...with grave steps" as Pluto sings a warning to the women in the audience. As said ingrates return to the underworld, one of them sings a lament regretting she must leave the "pure and serene air."

Recordings

*''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (with ''Sestina'') Les Arts Florissants, conducted by William Christie (Harmonia Mundi, 1982) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (with ''

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda ''Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda'' (''The Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda''), SV 153, is an operatic ''scena'' for three voices by Claudio Monteverdi. The libretto is drawn from Torquato Tasso's '' La Gerusalemme Liberata''. It was first ...

'') Red Byrd, Parley of Instruments (Hyperion, 1992) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (with ''Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda'', ''Tirsi e Clori'' and ''Tempro la cetra'') Ensemble Tragicomedia, conducted by Stephen Stubbs (Teldec, 1993) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (with ''Tirsi e Clori'' and music from ''

L'Orfeo ''L'Orfeo'' ( SV 318) (), sometimes called ''La favola d'Orfeo'' , is a late Renaissance/early Baroque ''favola in musica'', or opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and ...

'')

Monteverdi Choir The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic convic ...

English Baroque Soloists The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque to the Classical period. History The English B ...

, conducted by

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Life and career Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Ga ...

(Erato, 1993) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (with ''Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda'' and ''Tirsi e Clori'') New London Consort, conducted by Philip Pickett (Decca L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1995) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (with ''Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda'') Capella Musicale di S. Petronio di Bologna, conducted by Serge Vartolo (Naxos, 1997) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (with ''Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda''), Concerto Italiano, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini (Opus 111, 1998) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (as part of a complete recording of ''Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi'' - Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals)

Concerto Vocale Concerto Vocale is a Belgian musical ensemble for baroque music. History Concerto Vocale was founded in Amsterdam in 1977 by the Belgian countertenor and conductor René Jacobs. The vocal ensemble has included sopranos María Cristina Kiehr an ...

, conducted by

René Jacobs René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his music ...

(Harmonia Mundi, 2002) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (as part of a complete recording of Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals), La Venexiana, conducted by Claudio Cavina (Glossa, 2005) *''Il ballo delle ingrate'', I Fagiolini and Barokksolistene conducted by Robert Hollingworth (Chandos, 2009)

References

Sources

*''The Viking Opera Guide'' edited by Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993) p. 679 *Notes by Peter Holman to the Hyperion recording listed above (1992) * Paolo Fabbri ''Monteverdi'', translated by Tim Carter (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

External links

Libretto
in Italian {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballo delle ingrate, Il Ballets by Claudio Monteverdi 1608 ballet premieres