Erismena in Italian is a delight, but
the englishing of Cavalli’s Erismena is extraordinary enough in itself,
and it is particularly interesting that the sung prologue, for Fortune,
Beauty, Virtue, and Fancy, does not appear to derive from the Italian
versions of the opera.
This specially written prologue thus deserves
This specially written prologue thus deserves
our particular attention, not only in itself, but for what it tells us about
attitudes to opera at this time. the Erismena
prologue can be be discussed in relation to other all-sung, allegorical
prologues for works from the Restoration; that all these works were
written for the court may suggest that the English Erismena was also
created for this environment.
In turn, a royal connection to the
In turn, a royal connection to the
manuscript may provide new insight into English cultural identity at
this time.
England is often considered an operatic wasteland.
No all-sung
No all-sung
tradition emerged during the 17th-century to rival or to counter
Continental counterparts, English efforts to compete appear to be
feeble, and what enthusiasm there was for the genre seems to have
been limited to a few practitioners and theatre manques.
At least, that
At least, that
is what we are (often) led to believe. But it is also true that, in
addressing these issues, scholars have often failed to answer the
question ‘what did Londoners want?’
Indeed, many outside the fields
Indeed, many outside the fields
of English music and drama have not bothered to pose it.
At the same
At the same
time, fitting Francesco Cavalli’s Erismena into this scene is
problematic.
We can only surmise when (or, indeed, if) it was
We can only surmise when (or, indeed, if) it was
performed; it is not even recorded when the score came to England.
We should re-visit the opera world in London in the late 17th
century, and will consider not only what Londoners wanted, but what
they knew, and how Erismena might have fitted into the scene, had it
indeed been performed during that period.
In the preface to his libretto for Francesco Cavalli’s La Didone (1641),
Giovanni Francesco Busenello justifies the opera’s departures from the
rules governing ancient tragedy on the grounds of modern taste.
He
He
writes:
“This opera is influenced by modern opinions . . . books are
“This opera is influenced by modern opinions . . . books are
open, and learning is not a stranger in this world.” This study
examines three stage productions of La Didone that have extended the
process of dramaturgical reinvention that began with Busenello’s own
radical departures from Virgil’s Aeneid.
Europa Galante’s production
Europa Galante’s production
(2006; also on DVD) sought to reconstruct the first Venetian
performances through a historically informed approach that drew
heavily upon documentary evidence.
The Yale Baroque Opera Project
The Yale Baroque Opera Project
presented La Didone as “opera-within-an-opera” in Capriccio
Barocco, an original pasticcio that fashioned a meta-theatrical
narrative from scenes of several other operas by Cavalli.
The Wooster
The Wooster
Group explored the opera’s inter-textuality in an experimental
production that grafted excerpts of La Didone alongside the
screenplay of the cult science-fiction film Terrore nello spazio.
Together these performances display the rich variety of approaches to
Cavalli’s operas on stage today and demonstrate how historical
sources can serve as the basis for original stage adaptations.
Francesco Cavalli was unique among the first participants in Venetian
public opera.
He alone remained active in Venice’s theatres, and over
He alone remained active in Venice’s theatres, and over
the course of a long career, became increasingly successful in
operating under his own terms.
We should explore Cavalli’s
We should explore Cavalli’s
relationships with a series of impresarios and librettists, and it places
special emphasis on the 1655/56 season, when Cavalli’s operas
appeared in two different theatres: La Statira at SS. Giovanni e Paolo,
and L’Erismena, at S. Aponal.
Both operas underwent a number of
Both operas underwent a number of
revisions during the season, but it was Erismena that eventually went
on to captivate audiences outside of Venice.
While the love and war topos was given its most elaborate presentation
in Monteverdi’s Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi, it was no less relevant
to Monteverdi’s late operas or those composed by his
contemporaries such as Cavalli and Sacrati.
Indeed, the play with
Indeed, the play with
gender roles that was so fundamental to the carnivalesque nature of
Venetian opera could often be underscored in scenes that focused on
the warrior’s vulnerability to love and the lover’s desire for war, as well
as those moments in which the female warrior adopts not only male
clothing but male virtues.
We should look at several excerpts
We should look at several excerpts
from Venetian operas in which the treatment of the love-war topos
higlights contemporary notions about MASCULINITY, including excerpts
from such works as Sacrati’s La finta pazza, Cavalli’s Erismena—
focusing in particular on Veremonda L’Amazzone di Aragona, in which
the battle between the infidels and Christians is given vivid musical
representation.
Since its appearance in the 1961 the English score of Cavalli’s
L’Erismena has attracted numerous tentative theories as to its origins.
Its acquisition by the Bodleian affords an opportunity to review
the evidence concerning its early history, as well as examining the
volume itself for possible clues as to who was responsible for it, and
where and when it may have been produced.
No detailed physical
No detailed physical
description of the manuscript has yet been published.
A close
A close
examination of its internal properties together with information about
the relationship between the English text (musical and literary) and the
main Italian sources can nevertheless shed new light on its date and
place of origin.
In addition, the writing style and notational habits of
In addition, the writing style and notational habits of
its copyist allow us to speculate upon the identity of this individual.
While we are some way from putting a name to this scribe, it may at
least be possible to understand something of the social and musical
context within which the manuscript was produced.
The English adaptation of Erismena is remarkable for its literary richness
and stylistic sophistication.
We should analyse the English text of this
We should analyse the English text of this
little-studied manuscript score to show how the language of Erismena
draws on a fund of words, tropes, and metaphors common to Restoration
drama.
By identifying the poetic strategies behind the English libretto, we should
By identifying the poetic strategies behind the English libretto, we should
examine how the English translator reworks the Italian version, hewing
closely to the original rhyme schemes and musical phrases while adding
native poetic artistry in the form of iambic meter and alliteration. I also
speculatively reconstruct the process of adaptation by comparing the
text-setting and music to Erismena’s Italian sources, which consist of two
extant scores and fourteen libretti.
Unlike other 18th-century English
Unlike other 18th-century English
translations of Italian opera, such Arsinoe and Camilla, Erismena does not
bear signs of being modified for performance to a PAYING audience—it
does not transpose voice parts or code-switch between Italian and
English, for example, and all of the recitative is retained.
The remarkably
The remarkably
unified artistic vision behind this careful translation offers intriguing
evidence for the growing enthusiasm for Italian opera in 17th and 18thcentury
England. The text of the English Erismena not
only betrays a meta-theatrical awareness of musical-dramatic genres but
also self-consciously positions the English language as a respectable
vehicle for opera.
Erismena, the 19th of Cavalli’s 29 operas, which received
its premiere in Venice in 1655, is unique in a number of important
ways.
A collaboration between a composer at the height of his powers
A collaboration between a composer at the height of his powers
and a skilled librettist near the beginning of a major career, it was one
of Cavalli’s most successful works.
In addition to some thirteen
In addition to some thirteen
productions in as many cities on the Italian peninsula over a fifteen-year
period, it is the first—only—known 17th-century Italian opera to
have survived in a contemporary English translation.
In that English
In that English
translation, Erismena was also one of the very first Cavalli operas to be
performed in modern times.
Following an examination of the
Following an examination of the
significance of the opera within Cavalli’s career, we can trace its influence on
the Cavalli renaissance and on the evolution of present-day
performance styles for Baroque opera.
www.yalebaroqueoperaproject.org
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