L'Olimpiade 1733 Metastasio - (h71JAAAAcAAJ) GB - Title page

''L'Olimpiade'' 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 libre ...

libretto in three acts by

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 M ...

originally written for an operatic setting by

Antonio Caldara Antonio Caldara (ca 1670 – 28 December 1736) was an Italian Baroque composer. Life Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, ...

of 1733. Metastasio’s plot vaguely draws upon the narrative of "The Trial of the Suitors" provided from Book 6 of '' The Histories'' of

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

, which had previously been the base for

Apostolo Zeno Apostolo Zeno (11 December 1668 in Venice – 11 November 1750 in Venice) was a Venetian poet, librettist, journalist, and man of letters. Early life Apostolo Zeno was born in Venice to a colonial branch of the Zeno family, an ancient Vene ...

's libretto ''Gli inganni felici'' (1695). The story, set in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

at the time of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, is about amorous rivalry and characters' taking places to gain the loved one. The story ends with the announcement of two marriages.

Background

Metastasio, as Imperial court poet at the court of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, was requested to write the libretto to help celebrate the birthday of Empress

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (28 August 1691 – 21 December 1750) was Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary; and Archduchess of Austria by her marriage to E ...

in 1733. The court composer Caldara was assigned to compose the music. The libretto attracted attention immediately and productions were soon mounted across Europe. Metastasio himself commented to Saverio Mattei that ''L’Olimpiade'' had been "performed and repeated in all the theatres of Europe". Indeed, it ranks with Metastasio's '' Demofoonte'' and ''

Didone abbandonata ''Didone abbandonata'' is an opera libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio. It was his first original work and was set to music by Domenico Sarro in 1724. The opera was accompanied by the intermezzo ''L'impresario delle Isole Canarie'', also b ...

'', which were excelled in popularity only by ''

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, ...

'' and '' Alessandro nell'Indie''. The popularity of ''L’Olimpiade'' may subsequently have prompted Metastasio’s ''

La Nitteti ''La Nitteti'' is an 18th-century Italian opera in 3 acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It was composed to a libretto by the Italian poet Metastasio that was first performed in 1756, one of the newer (and less popular) of the Meta ...

'', a twin drama in several respects.

Synopsis

:Place: Ancient Greece :Time: During the Olympic Games

Act 1

Megacles arrives in Sicyon just in time to enter the Olympic Games under the name of Lycidas, a friend who once saved his life. Unknown to Megacles, Lycidas is in love with Aristaea, whose hand is to be offered to the winner of the games by her father, King Cleisthenes. Lycidas, once betrothed to Princess Argene of Crete, is unaware that Megacles and Aristaea already love each other, and he subsequently tells his friend of the prize. Aristaea and Megacles greet each other fondly, but Megacles now feels bound by his promise to compete as Lycidas. Meanwhile, Argene arrives in Olympia disguised as a shepherdess, to win back Lycidas.

Act 2

Megacles wins the games, confesses the truth to Aristaea and departs, broken-hearted. When Lycidas comes to claim her, Aristaea reproaches him, as does the disguised Argene, much to his dismay. Amyntas, tutor to Lycidas, reports that Megacles has drowned himself, and King Cleisthenes, apprised of the deception, banishes Lycidas.

Act 3

Argene prevents the desperate Aristaea from suicide, Megacles is rescued by a fisherman, and Lycidas contemplates the assassination of the king. Aristaea pleads mercy for Lycidas and Argene offers herself in his place; as proof that she is a princess, she shows Cleisthenes a chain given her by Lycidas. He recognizes it as belonging to his son, abandoned in infancy to forestall the prophecy that he would kill his father. Lycidas, reinstated, accepts Argene, leaving his sister to Megacles.

Other settings of the libretto

More than 60 baroque and classical composers used the libretto for their own settings. The first composer to reuse the libretto was

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread ...

in Venice in 1734. This was followed by

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera '' ...

's famous version in 1735. Although Pergolesi’s initial setting for Rome was not immediately successful, the number of subsequent stagings and extant manuscripts have particularly associated his name with this drama. In 1748

Baldassare Galuppi Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C.&nb ...

’s version premiered to resounding success in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

and the opera is now regarded as his most successful

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 a ...

. In 1765

Thomas Arne Thomas Augustine Arne (; 12 March 17105 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!" and the song " A-Hunting We Will Go", the latter composed for a 1777 production of ''The Beggar's Opera'', whi ...

, who "still nursed the hope of achieving success in Italian opera", persuaded the directors of The King's Theatre 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 ...

to produce his own setting of the opera, which turned out however to be a complete failure. The libretto was also the source for one of

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 co ...

's finest dramatic works (1778, Naples).A detailed comparison of Mysliveček's popular aria "Se cerca, se dice" with settings by other 18th-century composers is provided in Daniel E. Freeman, "Mysliveček's Setting of the Aria 'Se cerca, se dice' from Metastasio's ''L'Olimpiade''," in ''Il ciel non soffre inganni: Attorno al Demetrio di Mysliveček, 'Il Boemo','' edited by Mariateresa Dellaborra (Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 2011), 113-36. and a popular success for

Antonio Sacchini Antonio Maria Gasparo Gioacchino Sacchini (14 June 1730 – 6 October 1786) was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Sacchini was born in Florence, but raised in Naples, where he received his musical education. He made a name for hi ...

in Padua 1763. Johann Nepomuk Poissl's '' Der Wettkampf zu Olympia, oder Die Freunde'' (1815) was the first German-language setting and his version enjoyed occasional revivals during the nineteenth century.

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 ...

set Cleisthenes' last aria twice, first for Aloysia Weber (KV. 294) and latter for a subscription concert by

Ludwig Fischer Ludwig Fischer (16 April 1905 – 8 March 1947) was a German Nazi Party lawyer, politician and a convicted war criminal who was executed for war crimes. Background Born into a Catholic family in Kaiserslautern, Fischer joined the Nazi Party ...

(K 512). Beethoven set the duet "Ne' giorni tuoi felici" for tenor, soprano and orchestra in 1802 – 1803 (WoO 93).

List of notable settings

The following is a list of the most notable operas that subsequently utilized Metastasio's libretto in chronological order of first performance: *

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, 1733 *

, '' L'Olimpiade'',

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, Teatro Sant'Angelo, 1734 *

, '' L'Olimpiade'',

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 1735 *

Leonardo Leo Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque composer. Biography Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (currently known as San Vito dei Normanni, province of Brindisi) ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

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 ...

, 1737 *

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

, 1748 *

Davide Perez Davide Perez (1711 – 30 October 1778) was an Italian opera composer born in Naples of Italian parents, and later resident court composer at Lisbon from 1752. He staged three operas on librettos of Metastasio at Lisbon with huge success in 175 ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'', Lisbon, 1753 *

Johann Adolf Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, 1756 *

Tommaso Traetta Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta (30 March 1727 – 6 April 1779) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic ref ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, 1758 *

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including re ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'', Stuttgart, 1761 *

Niccolò Piccinni Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly th ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'', Rome, 1761 *

Vincenzo Manfredini Vincenzo Manfredini (22 October 1737 – 5 or 16 August 1799) was an Italian composer, harpsichordist and a music theorist. Biography Manfredini was born in Pistoia, near Florence. He studied music with his father, Francesco Onofrio Manfred ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, 1762 *

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of t ...

, 1763 *

Florian Leopold Gassmann Florian Leopold Gassmann (3 May 1729 – 21 January 1774) was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of ''dramma giocoso'' immedia ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, 1764 *

, ''L'Olimpiade'', London, 1765 *

Giuseppe Sarti Giuseppe Sarti (also Sardi; baptised 1 December 1729 – 28 July 1802) was an Italian opera composer. Biography He was born at Faenza. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 1 December 1729. Some earlier sources say he was born o ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, 1778 *

, '' L'Olimpiade'', Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 4 November 1778 *

Luigi Cherubini Luigi Cherubini ( ; ; 8 or 14 SeptemberWillis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the grea ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

, 1783 *

Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan school and of the Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is '' Il matrimonio segreto'' (1792); most of h ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'',

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the '' Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a t ...

, 10 July 1784 *

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in ...

, ''L'Olimpiade'', Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 20 January 1786 *

Johann Friedrich Reichardt Johann Friedrich Reichardt (25 November 1752 – 27 June 1814) was a German composer, writer and music critic. Early life Reichardt was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, to lutenist and ''Stadtmusiker'' Johann Reichardt (1720–1780). Johann F ...

, ''L’olimpiade'', Berlin, Kgl, 2 Oct 1791 *

Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera style dur ...

, ''Olimpiade'', (1817, incomplete)

Recordings

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespre ...

: '' L'Olimpiade (Vivaldi)'', recording on CD - Rinaldo Alessandrini (Conductor) - Concerto Italiano - Cast: Sara Mingardo (Licida), Roberta Invernizzi (Megacle), Sonia Prina (Aristea), Marianna Kulikova (Argene), Laura Giordano (Aminta), Riccardo Novaro (Clistene), Sergio Foresti (Alcandro) -

Naïve Records Naïve Records is a French independent record label based in Paris, specializing in electronic music, pop music, jazz and classical music. Founding and expansion It was founded in 1998 by Patrick Zelnik, former CEO of Virgin France, Gilles Pair ...

, Vivaldi Edition *

Pergolesi Pergolesi is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, (1710–1736), Italian composer, violinist, and organist *Michael Angelo Pergolesi Michael Angelo Pergolesi () was an Italian decorative artist from th ...

: '' L'Olimpiade (Pergolesi)'', video recording – 2011 Teatro Valeria Moriconi,

Iesi Jesi, also spelled Iesi (), is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Ancona in Marche, Italy. It is an important industrial and artistic center in the floodplain on the left (north) bank of the Esino river before its mouth on the Adriati ...

– Alessandro De Marchi (Conductor), Academia Montis Regalis, Mondavi; Italo Nunziata (stage director) – Cast:

Raúl Giménez Raúl Giménez (born September 14, 1950), is an Argentine operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian bel canto vocal style. Giménez was born in Carlos Pellegrini, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. He studied at the Music Conservat ...

(Clistene), Lyubov Petrova (Aristea), Yetzabel Arias Fernández (Argene), Jennifer Rivera (Licida), Sofia Soloviy (Megacie), Antonio Lozano (Aminta), Milena Storti (Alcandro) – Arthaus Musik Cat. 101 650 (DVD) *

Galuppi Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. ...

: ''

L'Olimpiade (Galuppi) ''For Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's L'Olimpiade, see L'Olimpiade (Pergolesi)'' ''L'Olimpiade'' is an opera in three acts by Baldassare Galuppi in the opera seria style, based on the original libretto of L'Olimpiade, the same name by Pietro Metasta ...

'', premiere recording on video DVD - 2006 Teatro Malibran, Venice - Andrea Marcon (Conductor), Venice Baroque Orchestra, Dominique Poulange (stage director) - Cast: Mark Tucker, Ruth Rosique, Roberta Invernizzi, Romina Basso -

Dynamic Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' " power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics) ** Aerodynamics, the study of the motion of air ** Analytical dyna ...

Cat. 33545

References

Notes Sources *George Loomis, "Metastatio's Olympians", ''Opera'' (London), Vol. 63, No. 5, May 2012, pp. 541–545.

External links

1733 libretto
at

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Synopsis at The Aris Christoffelis Voice Page1784 libretto (Cimarosa version)
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olimpiade Libretti by Metastasio 1733 operas Ancient Olympic Games Olympic Games in fiction Operas set in ancient Greece Operas by Antonio Caldara