''Ezio'' is an eighteenth-century Italian

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

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 the composer's second setting of a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 th ...

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 Met ...

that was first performed 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 (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...

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 1777 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 abou ...

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the Hoftheater in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

on 10 January 1777.Documentation concerning the Munich performance of Mysliveček's ''Ezio'' of 1777 is found in Daniel E. Freeman, ''Josef Mysliveček, "Il Boemo"'' (Sterling Heights, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 2009). More detailed information is found in German in Karl Böhmer, W. A. Mozarts "Idomeneo" und die Tradition der Karnevalsopern in München (Tutzing, 1999), pp. 84-87. The composer was to have come to Munich a year earlier, but he was detained in Italy due to the effects of

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

. By the end of 1776, he had temporarily recovered enough to travel to Munich. In the autumn of 1777, he underwent an operation for facial disfigurement associated with his disease that resulted in his nose being burned off. Earlier research assumed that the Munich ''Ezio'' was merely a revival of the composer's setting for

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in 1775, however it has come to light recently that the court of

Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria Maximilian III Joseph (28 March 1727 – 30 December 1777), also known by his epithet "the much beloved" was a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Bavaria from 1745 to 1777. He was the last of the Bavarian branch of the House o ...

, insisted on completely new music, which Mysliveček did provide. The cast included the great

castrato A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrino ...

Luigi Marchesi, who had earlier appeared only in minor roles, but was given one of the leading roles in this production. His singing was considered superb by the court of Munich, and Mysliveček used his influence with the management of 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 a historic opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and a ...

to engage him for a series of operas in Naples in 1778–79. Mysliveček's intervention enabled Marchesi to establish himself permanently as one of the leading singers in Italy. Except for Marchesi's singing, the opera was not considered to have been particularly successful, and it was overshadowed by the overwhelming success of Mysliveček's

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

'' Isacco, figura del redentore'', which was performed in the same theater only a few weeks after the run of ''Ezio'' ended.

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 Fulvia, "Caro padre, a me non dei"
Act I, scene 5 - Aria of Massimo, "Il nocchier che si figura"
Act I, scene 7 - Aria of Onoria, "Quanto mai felici siete"
Act I, scene 9 - Aria of Valentiniano, "So chi t'accese"
Act I, scene 11 - Aria of Ezio, "Guarda pria"
Act I, scene 12 - Aria of Fulvia, "Finche un zeffiro soave" 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 Fulvia, "Quel fingere affetto"
Act II, scene 8 - Aria of Varo, "Nasce al bosco in rozza cuna"
Act II, scene 10 - Aria of Onoria, "Finché per te mi palpita"
Act II, scene 13 - Quartetto "Ecco alle mie catene" Act III, scene 1 - Aria of Onoria, "Peni tu per un'ingrata"
Act III, scene 2 - Aria of Valentiniano, "Con le procelle in seno"
Act III, scene 5 - Rondò of Ezio, "Mi dona, mi rende" non-Metastasian text
Act III, scene 10 - Aria of Massimo, "Tergi l'ingiuste lagrime"
Act III, scene 11 - Aria of Fulvia, "Ah, non son io che parlo"
Act III, scene 13- Coro "Della vita nel dubbio cammino"
Act III, scene 14 - Chorus, "Della vita ne' dubbio camino"

References

{{Metastasio 1777 operas Works set in the 5th century Works set in ancient Rome Italian-language operas Operas by Josef Mysliveček Opera seria Operas Valentinian III Cultural depictions of Flavius Aetius

Performance history

Roles

Vocal set pieces

See also

References