![Jan Vilímek - Josef Mysliveček](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Jan_Vil%C3%ADmek_-_Josef_Myslive%C4%8Dek.jpg)
''La Nitteti'' is an 18th-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 libr ...
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 com ...
. It was composed to a
libretto 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 in 1756, one of the newer (and less popular) of the Metastasian librettos in Mysliveček's day. 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. This opera contains more substitutions of original aria texts than any other Mysliveček setting of a Metastasian libretto. The cuts and changes in the text made for the 1770 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.
Performance history
The opera was first performed at the Teatro Nuovo Pubblico in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
on 29 April 1770, a month after Mysliveček first made the acquaintance of
Wolfgang Amadeus 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. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
and his father
Leopold the previous month in the same city. From the correspondence of the Mozart family, it is known that the singer
Caterina Gabrielli was engaged originally to be the
prima donna
In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given.
''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage per ...
for the production, but she did not come up from
Palermo as planned, to the disappointment of the Bolognese. Her replacement, Clementina Spagnuoli, was a much less distinguished singer. Another notable singer, the
castrato Tommaso Guarducci, met Mysliveček for the first time during the course of the preparations for this production, then became close professional associates for several years afterward. The production was a success. It was revived for the
carnival operatic season of 1777 for the Teatro Nuovo 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 ...
, the same theater that first opened in 1773 with a performance of Mysliveček's first setting of Metastasio's libretto ''
Demetrio''. Two arias from ''Nitteti'', "Povero cor, tu palpiti," and "Se la cagion saprete" received modern premieres at a concert of the Mozartists, with
Ian Page conducting, at
Cadogan Hall in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
on 7 March 2020.
[See https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/mozart-in-italy-concert-2/]
.
Connection with Mozart
During the summer of 1770, the young Mozart was staying with his father in Bologna and working on his first opera for Italy, ''
Mitridate, re di Ponto
''Mitridate, re di Ponto'' ('' Mithridates, King of Pontus''), K. 87 (74a), is an opera seria in three acts by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by , after Giuseppe Parini's Italian translation of Jean Racine's play '' Mithrida ...
'', which was supposed to be performed 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 ...
later that year. Mysliveček was also staying in Bologna that summer and was a frequent visitor to the Mozart household according to letters of Mozart's father. There is no question that Wolfgang studied Mysliveček's score for ''La Nitteti'' closely and picked up compositional expertise and musical motives as a result. The use of Mysliveček's musical motives is seen most clearly seen from a comparison of the overture and opening arias of each work.
Roles
Vocal set pieces
Act I, scene 1 – Accompanied recitative for Amenofi and Sammete, "E Sammete non torna"
Act I, scene 1 – Aria of Sammete, "Sono in mar"
Act I, scene 2 – Aria of Amenofi, "Se il labbro nol dice"
Act I, scene 3 – Aria of Nitteti, "Tu sai che amante io sono"
Act I, scene 4 – Aria of Sammete, "Care luci nel mirarvi tal dolcezza"
non-Metastasian text
Act I, scene 5 – Aria of Beroe, "Tra l'affanno e la speranza"
non-Metastasian text
Act I, scene 8 – Aria of Amasi, "Tutte fin or dal cielo"
Act I, scene 10 – Duet for Beroe and Sammete, "Sì, ti credo, amato bene"
Act II, scene 1 – Accompanied recitative for Beroe, "Povero cor, tu palpiti"
Act II, scene 5 – Aria of Amasi, "Puoi vantar le tue ritorte"
Act II, scene 7 – Aria of Beroe, "Ah, non temer ben mio"
non-Metastasian text
Act II, scene 8 – Aria of Bubaste, "Tuona talor minaccia"
non-Metastasian text
Act II, scene 9 – Aria of Sammete, "Se la cagion saprete"
non-Metastasian text
Act II, scene 10 – Aria of Amenosi, "Da voi cari lumi"
non-Metastasian text
Act II, scene 11 – Aria of Nitteti, "Se fra gelosi sdegni"
Act II, scene 12 – Accompanied recitative for Beroe and Sammete, "Ma dove, oh Dio, mi guidi?"
Act II, scene 13 – Trio for Beroe, Sammete, and Amasi, "Guardami, padre amato"
non-Metastasian text
Act III, scene 3 – Aria of Amasi, "Taci, o cor, in questo petto"
non-Metastasian text
Act III, scene 5 – Aria of Beroe, "Bramai di salvarti"
Act III, scene 7 – Aria of Sammete, "Se consolarmi"
Recording
One aria from Mysliveček's ''La Nitteti'' is available in a collection recorded by the Czech soprano Zdena Kloubová: "Ah, non temer ben mio." The recording is Panton 81 1044–2231 (1992) with the
Benda Chamber Orchestra, Miroslav Hrdlička, conductor.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nitteti
Italian-language operas
Operas by Josef Mysliveček
1770 operas
Opera seria
Operas