Speranza
Re: D. Rogers.
The biography of Francesco Vannarelli (c.1616–1679) is limited to a series of places and dates listed in scattered documents throughout Italy.
Generally known only by the motets included in contemporary anthologies, Vannarelli worked nearly exclusively for the church.
"L'Ippolito" is Vannarelli’s only known complete opera.
"L'Ippolito" follows the tragi-commedia tradition of Rome in the 17th century and represents the first setting of the "Fedra" myth in opera.
To acknowledge:
Ludovico Bertazzo, Centro Studi Antoniani, Padova.
For research guidance with regards to Vannarelli and Assisi.
Fabrizio Mastroianni, Terni, re: points of Vannarelli’s biographical
information throughout Umbria.
Fabio Ciofini, Collescipoli.
Vannarelli, “Ippolito.” Score, 1661. Rari, Biblioteca del conservatorio di musica S. Pietro a Majella, Naples
We know little about Vannarelli apart from what we can learn from a careful examination of his known works.
In many cases these musical sources themselves provide some of the most telling biographical information as to positions, appointments, and associations.
Aside from these, the brief biographical information included in modern indexes to preserved musical collections and manuscript ledgers are all that survive today.
Although these records do not account for every year of his life, they provide a satisfactory foundation.
We are interested in a sketch of his travels and his musical output that
provide a context in which to place his "Ippolito".
From the earliest known work, Vannarelli’s name (occasionally spelled Vanarelli)
is often accompanied by the word "romano", suggesting his origin.
Records regarding his death in 1679 confirm that he was born in about 1615 in Capranica, a small city to the
(For a brief summary see John Harper, “Francesco Vannarelli,” in The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 2nd ed., 29 vols. (New York:
Oxford, 2001), 29:261–62.)
(Often these publications reveal Vannarelli’s current position, such as in Andrea Fei
comp., Floridus modulorum hortus (Rome: Andream Pheum, 1647) where he is listed as
the maestro di cappella in SS Apostoli in Rome, or in Agostino Diruta, Poesie heroiche, (Rome: Agostino Diruta, 1646) where he is named as Diruta’s friend.).
--
north of Rome in the modern region of Viterbo.
His name does not appear again until 1638 in a collection of miscellaneous manuscripts held in the S Francesco Basilica in Assisi.
The manuscripts name him as the organist of the Sacro Convento where it is
assumed he both studied and made vows as a minor conventual Franciscan friar.
They contain several four-part choral passions and at least two motets, a genre that would occupy much of his musical output.
Vannarelli was there at least until 22 April 1639.
There is no record of his departure.
In 1645 Bartolomeo Cappello, also a minor conventual, included three of Vannarelli’s motets in an anthology of sacred psalms, a collection that would be republished in 1650.
On 14 May 1646, Vannarelli was appointed as the magister musices of his order and in that same year Agostino Diruta
(Antonio Sartori, Evoluzione del francescanesimo nelle tre Venezie, monasteri contrade località abitanti di Padova mediovale, 2 vols. Archivio Sartori, no. 2 (Padua: Biblioteca Antoniana, 1988), 1:1285, 1319).
(“Miscellaneo manoscritto del sec. XVII,” score, mss. n. 5, Biblioteca del Sacro
Convento, Assisi. The manuscript is described discussed in Claudio Sartori, ed., Assisi: La cappella della basilica di S. Francesco cataloghi, vol. 1 of Catalogo del fondo musicale nella biblioteca comunale di Assisi, Bibliotheca Musicae, no. 1 (Milan: Istituto editoriale italiano, 1962), 341–43, 354.)
(Sartori describes the volume as a collection of miscellanous manuscripts probably composed from fragments of volumes no longer in existence).
(There are four other motets that are written in the same hand according to Sartori’s
catalogue but not attributed to Vannarelli by name in the manuscript. Although it is
probable that these are also Vannarelli’s work, it is difficult to claim it definitively).
(“Miscellaneo,” 65. An unknown scribe records, “Finis Passionum, Passione mazime
elaborata a fratre Franc.co Rom.o Anno Dni 1639 die 22 Aprilis Custode Adm. Rdo Pre.
M.ro Ludovico à Castro Bononiensi” as transcribed in Sartori, ed., Assisi, 341–43.
7 Bartolomeo Capello, comp., Selectio concentica psalmorum (Naples: Ottavio Beltrano,
1645) and later republished as Bartolomeo Capello, comp., Sacra animorum, (Naples: C.
Luciolum, 1650).)
(See also, Giovanni Tebaldini, L’archivio musicale della cappella
Antoniana in Padova (Padua, Tipografia e libreria Antoniana: 1895), 35. Tebaldini makes special mention of the Laudate pueri published in Cappello’s anthology.
--
included another of his motets in his anthology.
An inscription with his motet included in Andrea Fei’s anthology of 1647 names him as the maestro di cappella of SS Apostoli in Rome where he remained until 1649.
On 23 February 1649 Vannarelli began working as the maestro di cappella for the
cathedral in Spoleto, the first appointment in a series of five in that city.
He left the position in 1650 and it appears from the inclusion of two new motets in Francesco Melvi’s anthology that in that same year he relocated to Venice.
He became the maestro di cappella to S Spirito in Venice in 1651 but was back in Umbria by 1653 at the latest as the maestro di cappella to Cardinal Rapaccioli, a cardinal of significant influence and connected with the Barbarini family in Rome.
In that same year Vannarelli published Diruta, Poesie. See also, Saverio Franchi, Annali della stampa musicale Romana dei secoli XVI–XVIII, Vol. 1 of Edizioni di musica pratica dal 1601 al 1650, Vol. 1 of Ricerca storica, bibliografica e archivistica condotta in collaborazione con Orietta Sartori. (Rome: Istituto di Bibliografia Musicale, 2006), 891.
(Fei, comp., Floridus. Saverio Franchi, Annali della stampa musicale Romana dei secoli XVI-XVIII, vol. 1 of Edizione di musica pratica dal 1601–1650, vol. 1 of Ricerca storica, bibligrafica e archivistica condotta in collaborazione con Oreitta Sartori, Istituto di bibliografia musicale, no. 1 (Rome: istituto di bibliografia musicale, 2006), Giovanni Tebaldini, L’archivio musicale della cappella Antoniana in Padova (Padua: Tipografia e libreria Antoniana, 1895), Luigi Fausti, La cappella musicale del duomo di Spoleto (Perugia: Unione tipografica cooperativa, 1916), Alceste Innocenzi, Il fondo musicale del duomo di Spoleto: Sintesi cronologica e nuovi dati, Archivum historicum Spoletanum Nursinum, no. 5, (Norcia: Archidiocesi di Spoleto, 2007) and Antonio Sartori, La provincia del santo, 2 vols., Archivio Sartori, no. 3 (Padua: Biblioteca Antoniana, 1988) include Vannarelli’s appointment in SS Apostoli in their catalogues as well.
(Francesco Melvi, Cantiones sacrae (Venice: Al. Vincenti, 1650) and Sartori, La
Provincia, 1:18, 2:1939.)
Rapaccioli was present and nearly elected Pope in the conclave of 1644 and was
associated with the Barbarini family in Rome.
On Cardinal Rapaccioli, see Francesco
Angeloni, Storia di Terni (Pisa: Tipografia T. Nistri E.C., 1878; reprint, Bologna: Atesa
editrice, 1986), 481–82; and Guy Joli, Mémoires de madame la Duchesse de Nemours.
Vol. 2, Mémoires de Guy Joli (Geneva: Fabry & Barillot, 1777): 479–80. On Vannarelli’s
---
his own anthology of seven new motets that he labels opus 5.
On 26 March 1656 he
resumed his position as the maestro di cappella in Spoleto only to leave again in
February of 1658, although he remained in Spoleto until at least January of 1659.13
Vannarelli was reappointed to the same duties at Spoleto on 12 May 1660 and remained
until 15 June 1664.
*****************************************
During this third period as the maestro
di cappella, Vannarelli
composed "Ippolito"
for the carnival season of 1661.
****************************************
"Ippolito" premiered at the
"Teatro Nobili", Spoleto, built in 1657.
After a brief interruption, Vannarelli was again
appointed as maestro di cappella on 15 August 1664.
He resigned the position on the first
of the following month.
He resumed again his duties 15 September 1664 for the last time
and there remained until he departed sometime in 1665.
The sources give no explanation
for Vannarelli’s frequent relocations in Spoleto, but an ambiguous comment of 1663 that
may refer to Vannarelli might provide a clue:
Giuseppe Martelli deacon suggested that he had a feeling that his Eminence
Cardinal Bishop would have given permission to the maestro di cappella, if he
would write to his Eminence to excuse his bad behavior, and if he would beg to
allow him to find another according to his satisfaction for the good service of his
church.
appointment to the cappella musicale in Terni, see Fabrizion Mastroianni, “Musica sacra
e cappella musicale,” in Istituzioni chiesa e cultura a Terni tra cinquecento e settecento,
Tania Pulcini, ed. (Terni: Istituto di studi teologici e sociali, 1995), 169–92.
Mastroianni’s bibliography, containing the citations to the original records of the two
confraternite operating in Terni, is particularly helpful in locating primary source
material.
Francesco Vannarelli, Messa et salmi concertati (Naples: G. Ricci, 1653).
Fausti, 41–42.
Ibid. “il sig. Can.co Giuseppe Martelli Decano propose che avea presentito che
l’Eminentissimo sig. Cardinale Vescovo havese concesso licenza al maestro di Cappella,
se dovesse scrivere a S. E. per negarli gratia stanti li mali portamenti di esso, e si
supplicasse a volerne procurare uno di sua sodisfatione per il buon servitio di questa sua
Chiesa.”
In 1666 Vannarelli relocated to Orvieto as the maestro di cappella and while there
published a second collection of motets in 1668, which were republished posthumously
in 1683.15 The payment ledgers record Vannarelli’s departure in July of 1668 from
Orvieto and his name does not resurface again until 1674. His name first appears in a
record as the director of the fourth oratorio of the Arciconfraternita del SS Crocifisso in S
Marcello in Rome.16 His name appears again in September of that same year in the
records of S Antonio in Padua as the newly appointed maestro di cappella.17 Armondo
Silleari’s anthology of 1675 confirms Vannarelli’s position in Padua where he remained
until he died on 22 October 1679.18
The date of his death, however, creates some
difficulty in reconciling at least one of his attributed works.
Vannarelli is listed as the composer of the first act of the opera La Prosperità di Elio Seiano published in 1699.
In
On his Francesco Vannarelli, Decachordum Marianum, (Rome: Amadeo Belmonti,
1668) and Francesco Vannarelli, Decachordum Marianum (Rome: Mascardi, 1683). On
The Vanarelli’s dealings in Orvieto on payment, see “Cassieri, Libro mastro 1666,”
bound volume, f. 28v., Archivio Opera del Duomo di Orvieto (AODO), Orvieto and
“Cassieri, provisionati 1667,” bound volume, f. 25r., AODO, Orvieto and “Cassieri,
provisionati 1668,” bound volume, f. 25v.–26r., AODO, Orvieto; on his appointment,
see: “Riformanze no. 33, 1658–1679,” bound volume, f. 69r., 70v.–71r., AODO, Orvieto.
16 Andreas Liess, “Materialien zur römischen Musikgeschichte des Seicento:
Musikerlisten des Oratorio San Marcello 1664–1725,” Act Musicological, 29, no. 4
(1957), 137–71.
17 Sartori, Provincia, 1:17, 2:1440.
"There is some discrepancy in this record with Vannarelli’s name."
In other places his name is Francesco Antonio Vannarelli and here it
is listed as Francesco Maria Vannarelli.
18 Armondo Silleari, comp., Sacri concerti, (Bologna: Giacomo Monti, 1675). On the
death of Vannarelli, see Sartori, Provincia, 2:1285.
19 Nicola Minato, Francesco Vannarelli, Antonio Perti, and Francesco Martinenghi, La
prosperità di Elio Seiano (Milan: Carlo Federico Gagliardi, 1699).
6
addition, the Mdina cathedral in Malta holds several manuscripts of motets attributed to
Vannarelli that lack composition dates.20
Table 1 – Known works of Francesco Vannarelli
Year Title Bibliographic Information
Passio in Dominica Palmarum
Passio secundum Marcum
Passio secundum Lucam
Passio secundum Ioannem
Salve Regina
1638
Salve Regina
“Miscellaneo manoscritto del sec. XVII.”
Score. Mss. n. 5, Biblioteca del Sacro
Convento, Assisi.
Laudate pueri dominum,
salmo 112
In convertendo dominus
captivitatem sion, salmo 125
16451/
16502
De profundis clamavi ad te
domine, salmo 129
Capello, Bartolomeo, comp. Selectio
concentica psalmorum. Naples: Ottavio
Beltrano, 1645
Cappello, Bartolomeo, comp. Sacra
animorum. Naples: C. Luciolum, 1650.
16468 Respirate, ridenti alme Diruta, Agostino. Poesie heroiche.
Rome: Agostino Diruta, 1646.
16472 O pretiosum Fei, Andrea, comp. Floridus modulorum
hortus. Rome: Andream Pheum, 1647.
16504 Super muros tuos Hierusalem
celebrate populi
Melvi, Francesco. Cantiones sacrae.
Venice: Al. Vincenti, 1650.
Messa
Dixit
Consitebor
Beatus
Laudate pueri
Letatus sum
16532
Magnificat
Vannarelli, Francesco. Messa ed salmi
concertati. Naples: G. Ricci, 1653.
20 For printed sources in the Mdina archive, see Franco Bruni, “17th Century Prints at
Mdina Cathedral, Malta,” Early Music 27 (1999): 467–79. For a list of manuscripts held
in the Mdina archive, see Franco Bruni, “Catalogue of Music Manuscripts – Cathedral
Museum, Mdina, Malta (M-MDca Mus. Ms. 1–584),” Malta Study Center and Hill
Monastic Manuscript Library,
http://www.hmml.org/centers/malta/cathedral/music/catalogue_frames.html, (accessed
November 1, 2009).
7
Table 1 – continued
Year Title Bibliographic Information
1661 Ippolito Vannarelli, Score, 1661. Rari
Biblioteca del conservatorio di musica S.
Pietro a Majella, Naples.
16671 Jesu dulcis memoria Caifabri, Giovanni. Scelta de’ mottetti.
Rome: Amadeo Belmonti, 1667.
1668/
1683
Decachordum Marianum Vannarelli, Francesco. Decachordum
Marianum. Rome: Amadeo Belmonti,
1668.
Vannarelli, Francesco. Decachordum
Marianum. Rome: Mascardi, 1683.
16752 Benedicam dominum
Sustinuimus pacem
Silleari, Armondo, comp. Sacri concerti.
Bologna: Giacomo Monti, 1675.
1699 La prosperità di Elio Seiano Minato, Nicola, Francesco Vannarelli,
and Antonio Perti. La prosperità di Elio
Seiano. Milan: Carlo Federico Gagliardi,
1699.
Litanie della B.M.V.
Velum templi
Veni domine Jesu
Veni propera amica mea
Veni sponsa Christi
Venite et videte
Venite gentes
Venite Omnes
Verbera carnificum
?
Verbum caro
Bruni, Franco. “Catalogue of Music
Manuscripts – Cathedral Museum,
Mdina, Malta (M-MDca Mus. Ms. 1–
584).” Malta Study Center and Hill
Monastic Manuscript Library,
http://www.hmml.org/centers/malta/cath
edral/music/catalogue_frames.html
(accessed November 1, 2009).
8
THE LIBRETTO
The Story
The betrayal of a loyal stepson by a lustful stepmother at his refusal of her is a
widely spread motif throughout the literature of many cultures.
In the case of Fedra, the story is only a chapter in the body of myths surrounding her husband, the archetypal Athenian hero Teseo.
Euripides was probably the first to approach the already well-known legend in literature in the first half of the 5th century B.C. with his Ippolito
(hereafter Ippolito I).
Ippolito was the center of the action in the play rather than
the adulterous Fedra.
Although only fragments survive, scholars have conjectured some important characteristic features with varying degrees of confidence.
Fedra or her nurse probably delivers the prologue personally.
A shameless Fedra delivers the news
of her lustful desire to Ippolito in person.
A merciful oath of silence keeps Ippolito
from defending himself by exposing to Theseus Phaedra’s attempted seduction in a scene of confrontation between father and son.
Theseus’ curse of Hippolytus likely accompanies a sentence of exile.
Phaedra’s suicide occurs probably after the truth was revealed to Theseus.
A prophecy was issued of a cult that would honor Hippolytus after his unjust death.
Roland Mayer, Seneca: Phaedra (London: Duckworth, 2002).
Mayer documents several cultures that have a myth similar to that found in Phaedra.
For a discussion about the legend before attic tragedy, see Euripides, Hippolytos, ed. by W. S. Barrett (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974), 6–10.
Barrett’s introduction of the work includes a discussion about the probable of Hippolytus’ resurrection by Aesculapius in the oral tradition of the myth preceding Euripides’ first version.
Euripides, 11–12.
The tragedy by Euripides, "Ippolito I"m caused serious offence to the Athenians and in 428 B.C. Euripides produced a second version (hereafter Hippolytus II).
While keeping within the framework
of the original legend, Euripides altered in Hippolytus II the aspects of Hippolytus I that caused the greatest offense.
Although Hippolytus remained the focus of the action of the
play, Phaedra was presented as a virtuous woman that tragically suffered from love for her stepson that Aphrodite placed within her.
Hippolytus’ fate as well was presented less as the result of Phaedra’s merciless accusations and more as the result of his intolerance.
A few major alterations to the action in Hippolytus II are relevant here.
The prologue is now delivered by Venus, who explains that Phaedra’s desire for Hippolytus is a curse for his devotion to Diana.
Phaedra is unwilling to accept her love for her stepson.
Phaedra’s desire is revealed to Hippolytus against her wishes by her nurse.
Phaedra hangs herself early on in the defense of her children leaving a note accusing Hippolytus of attempted rape.
Theseus condemns and exiles Hippolytus before a scene of confrontation
between the two.
There is a resolution between Theseus and the dying Hippolytus
brought about by Diana’s divine intervention.
Euripides’ Hippolytus II won him great
accolades and has generally been accepted as his best constructed and most interesting
play.
Mayer, Seneca: Phaedra and James L. Sanderson and Irwin Gopnik, eds., Phaedra and
Hippolytus: Myth and Dramatic Form, introduction by Robert Graves (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co., 1966).
In the introduction, Graves gives a good summary of the myth and an
excellent discussion accompanies each of the chapters containing a version of the
Phaedra myth.
Sanderson and Gopnik, 12.
A third version of the Phaedra legend comes from this time period as well.
Although we have no dates surrounding Sophocles’ Phaedra, it may have been
completed between Euripides’ two attempts.
It is very difficult to say anything about its
action with certainty but, as its title suggests, the focus of the action shifts from
Hippolytus to Phaedra.
A few of Sophocles’ mutations on the legend are important in the
context of Vannarelli’s Ippolito.
At the onset of the play, Theseus is in the
underworld accompanied by Peirithoos, rather than visiting an oracle as in Hippolytus II.
Phaedra believes Theseus to be dead and herself free to pursue Hippolytus.
Phaedra’s
suicide comes after the truth of her dealings with Hippolytus have been revealed and in
remorse of her actions.
The later classical sources of the Phaedra myth are generally mutations and
mixtures of these three early works.
Both Virgil, in Aeneid, and Ovid, in Metamorphoses, mention the tragic story of Hippolytus and Phaedra with a few important additions.
Both sources recount Hippolytus’ divine resurrection by Esculapio and his retreat to
safety, disguised and renamed as Virbio.
Among the mutations in each is the somewhat surprising addition of Hippolytus’ beloved, "Aricia" by Virgil and "Egeria" by Ovid.
Although important for Vannarelli's "Ippolito", subsequent settings of the myth, including Seneca’s, ignore the addition of Aricia (or Egeria)
Perhaps the most important setting of the myth since
Euripides, scholars generally consider Seneca’s Phaedra, published in the 1st century
Euripides, 12–13.
Ovid, Metamorphoses XIII–XV and Indexes, ed. by D. E. Hill (Warminster: Aris &
Phillips, 2000); and Virgil, Aeneid, ed. by H. E. Gould and J. L. Whiteley (New York: St.
Martins, 1959).
A.D., the model for later editions of the myth into the 17th century.
Phaedra is
essentially an adaptation of Hippolytus I and is the principle antecedent for much of the
action in the libretto of Fedra ed Hippolito.
Many of the important mutations in Phaedra
are also present in the libretto.
Phaedra’s nurse initially attempts to dissuade Phaedra
from pursuing Hippolytus.
Upon Theseus’ return from the underworld, Phaedra feigns
a desire to die rather than reveal what great wrong someone has done to him.
Once the
truth is revealed to Theseus, Hippolytus’ sword, abandoned after Phaedra’s attempted
seduction, is offered as supporting evidence to his crime.
Phaedra in the end
confesses Hippolytus’ innocence and kills herself out of remorse.
Along with these earlier settings of the myth, one from the 17th century is
particularly important for Fedra ed Hippolito.
-----------------------
Vincenzo Iacobilli’s "Ippolito", published in Rome in 1601, adds several new characters and a second love interest to a Senecan backbone.
In Iacobilli’s tragedy, Phaedra at first reveals her desire for
28 Mayer, p. 25. Mayer suggests that it is generally accepted that Seneca uses Euripides’ first version of Phaedra more than the second as a source for his work.
Jane Davidson Reid, The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300–
1990s, 2 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). Reid lists several works that
set the myth.
We limit my consideration to those published in Italy, including
Ottaviano Zara, "Ippolito"
Padova: Perchacino, 1558)
Giovanni Paolo Trapolini,
Theseida
Padova Pasquati, 1576)
Francesco Bozza,
"Fedra"
Venezia: De’ Ferrari, 1578)
Vincenzo Iacobilli,
"Ippolito" (Rome: Facciotto, 1601)
Gregorio de’ Monti
"L’Ippolito"
Venezia: Baba, 1620)
Pietro Andrea ZIANI,
"L’incostanza trionfante, ovvero, il Theseo".
Libretto by F. Piccioli
(Venice: San Cassiano, 1658). --- (why not this the first "Fedra"?)
Zara and Bozza set a version of the myth similar to Hippolytus II in which Phaedra dies early on.
De’ Monti’s work does not set the myth but a modern comedy about a young man coincidentally named Ippolito.
Answer why Ziani does not count:
Ziani’s opera sets Piccioli’s libretto that tells the story of the marriage of Theseus and Phaedra—all events preceding Fedra ed Hippolito.
Iacobilli addresses the love interest between the main characters by addressing the
potential difference in age between Phaedra and Theseus.
At Hippolytus’ demonstration
12
Hippolytus to Olinda, her servant, who also reveals her own secret desire for Carminio,
Hippolytus’ servant and disciple.
A large portion of the action stems from the duo’s
attempts to seduce their respective objects of desire orchestrated by Phaedra.
After
many failed attempts to seduce him, Phaedra accuses Hippolytus of rape upon the
unexpected return of Theseus.
After all perish by suicide, murder or accidental death,
Theseus is left to morn alone.
The librettist of Fedra ed Hippolito,
Domenico Ortuso
-- about whom virtually nothing is known -- draws on themes from each of these major sources of the myth while simultaneously adding a few new mutations, of which the following is a summary.
Phaedra is shameless as in Hippolytus I, but potentially not adulterous as she claims her husband to be dead, although the argument is never completely convincing.
The short
prologue suggests, however, that she is acting under a curse of unnatural love as in
Hippolytus II and her innocence is accentuated by the return of her conscience in the third
reverence toward Phaedra in calling her “mother,” Phaedra explains that such respectful titles are not needed between them because she and he are the same age.
She further
states that Theseus is old enough to be her father.
Carminio is the son of a noble man named Libanio, who is desirous for his son to
marry to provide an heir to his riches. Libanio and Phaedra contrive together to convince his son to marry Olinda.
Phaedra’s plan of action is then to convince Carminio to marry Olinda, which he only
refuses because Hippolytus’ unwillingness to accept love.
After all have tried, he is
convinced to help persuade Hippolytus to accept love but dies unexpectedly in an
accident.
Out of grief Olinda and Libanio kill themselves at the conclusion of the play.
Claudio Sartori,
"I libretti italiani a stampa dalle origine al 1800"
Cuneo: Bertola & Locatelli, 1990), 138.
----------------------------
Sartori lists the librettist’s name as Domenico Montio.
-----------------------------
"Ippolito" is the only libretto attributed to Ortuso by either name: Ortuso or Montio.
13
act.34 Phaedra’s nurse, as in Seneca’s Phaedra, initially attempts to discourage her from
revealing her desire for Hippolytus.
From that same source, upon Teseo's return, Phaedra pretends to prefer death over revealing Hippolytus’ crimes against her but finally
offers Hippolytus’ sword as evidence. Hippolytus’ refusal of her advances is not due to his hyper-morality and narrow-mindedness but to his secret love for Aricia, as in Virgil.
Although Hippolytus makes no oath of silence to Phaedra, he is prevented from
defending himself against her accusations in a scene of confrontation with Theseus that
results in his exile, as in Hippolytus I.
After the return of her conscience, brought about
by her discovery of Hippolytus’ love for Aricia, Phaedra determines that only her death
can erase her error and stabs herself as in Iacobilli’s Hippolito and Seneca’s Phaedra.
Finally, as in Iacobilli’s Ippolito, there is an added love interest between the respective servants of Phaedra and Hippolytus.
To these borrowed adaptations from earlier sources, Ortuso [Montio in Sartori] adds new material.
**************************************
Most notably is the addition of Aricia
into
****the action***** of the play,
whereas Virgil only mentions her in the conclusion.
*********************
Although Ortuso is the first to make such an addition, Racine’s Phèdre, originally Phèdre et Hippolyte published in 1677, includes this subplot
as well.
Ortuso appeals to Virgil in the introduction to his work as justification and states
that he adds such a character in order to render Hippolytus imperfect, a criticism he cites of Euripides’ original.
Whether or not this is Ortuso’s original intention, we can apply
3
That "Amore", instead of Venus, Phaedra or Phaedra’s wet-nurse as in earlier literary
editions, delivers the prologue is my addition.
In opera of this time period a muse or god delivers the prologue.
35 See Sanderson and J. P. Short, ed., Racine: Phaedra, (London: Grant & Cutler, 1983);
and Derek Mahon, ed., Racine’s Phaedra, (Oldcastle: Gallery Books, 1996).
14
this to his Hippolytus as well.
In addition, Ortuso presents Phaedra’s confession at the
conclusion of the libretto in a new way.
Whereas Euripides’ Fedra uses a note postmortem
to accuse Hippolytus of rape and Seneca’s Phaedra confesses her guilt before her
death, Ortuso’s Phaedra commits suicide out of remorse and leaves a note absolving
Hippolytus of any wrong.
Perhaps the most important alteration is the "deus ex machina"
ending in which Hippolytus is resurrected through Esculapio's divine intervention,
presumably borrowed from Virgil and Ovid.
---- LIETO FINE.
The opera ends in the joyous reunion
of father and son and with the much
awaited marriage of Ippolito and
Aricia.
-------------------------------------------
Comic scenes throughout the opera, reserved for the only two comic characters
(Fidalba and Pappagallo) in the cast, forecast the typical "lieto fine" and lighten the mood.
This addition not only includes the use of comic characters but the borrowing of the style
of the popular commedia dell’arte through which the opera was presented.
The commedia dell’arte was a popular improvisational stage tradition that
required the use of several stock characters.
Generally they came in three or four pairs:
i zanni (the comics),
i vecchi (the old men), and
gli innamorati (the lovers).
The
successful union of the innamorati is generally the goal of the production often brought
about through the intervention of one or both of the zanni to the frustration of the
vecchi.
In each category a host of potential stock characters is available to add variety to
David Kimbell, Italian Opera (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991),
281–90; and Donald Grout and Hermine Williams, A Short History of Opera, 4th ed.
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 60–82; and Giacomo Oreglia, The
Commedia dell’Arte, trans. by Lovett F. Edwards (New York: Hill & Wang, 1968),
1–10.
37 Kimbell, 285.
each production. This tradition provides the foundation for comic opera that reaches its
climax in the opere buffe of Mozart and Rossini.
Although generally only the zanni remained a fixed addition in the comic opera tradition, the character layout of Vannarelli-Ortuso's "Ippolito" generally follows the guidelines of commedia dell’arte.
The servants Fidalba
and Pappagallo are paired as the zanni as their several comic duets and behaviors attest.
Pappagallo’s character has a direct connection in the commedia dell’arte tradition in the
character Tartaglia, the stutterer. Phaedra and Theseus are paired as the vecchi whose
plans are tragically frustrated first by the return of Phaedra’s conscience, which leads to
her suicide, and second by Theseus’ realization that he has killed his innocent son.
********************
Ippolito and the newly created Aricia are
paired as
"gli innamorati",
whose successful union seems doomed to failure but is finally celebrated in the final scene.
The Poetry
The majority of the lines in Ortuso's "Ippolito" are
settenario and endecasillabo
lines.
Frequently used, senario and ottonario lines are set generally in aria or arioso-like
passages.
Most lines are versi piani and versi tronchi although Ortuso infrequently makes
ironic use of the more elevated style of versi sdruccioli.
The comic characters Fidalba
and Pappagallo indulge themselves in a humorously vulgar duet.
After Pappagallo’s
38 Grout and Williams, 80–86.
39 Kimbell, 286.
For an excellent introduction to Italian poetic forms and grammar, see Bartlett
Giamatti, “Italian,” in Versification: Major Language Types, ed. W. K. Wimsatt (New
York: New York University Press, 1972), 148–64.
Theodore W. Elwert, Italianische Metrik (Munich: M. Heuber, 1968), translated as
Versificazione italiana dalle origini ai giorni nostri, (Florence: Le Monnier, 1973), 87–94.
lengthy attempt to overcome his stuttering in order to respond to Fidalba, the two make
light of their positions as servants.
The ritornello, “Scherziamo, danziamo,” reveals their
humorous outlook on life and it is underlined by the duet that follows.
Each in turn makes
a comical reference to sexual intimacy, ironically set in versi sdruccioli.
Ortuso enhances the libretto by careful attention to poetic rhyme schemes.
A free
mixture of incrociate and incatenate rhyme patterns generally constitutes aria passages
while Ortuso employs more loose rhyme schemes in recitative passages.
The opening
verses of the libretto, for example, are set in senario lines with an incatenata rhyme
pattern ABBC CDDE with a concluding tercet FFE (see table 2).
The libretto introduces Aricia’s character by senario lines and an incatenata rhyme pattern of three line strophes AAB CCB with a contrasting ritornello of a four line strophe with the rhyme scheme ABAB.
The contrast is additionally set apart musically by a change in tempo (see
table 3).
Teseo’s character, emerging from the banks of Tartarus (1.12) to return to the
living, begins with ottonario lines with the incrociata rhyme pattern ABBA that he then
follows with a recitative passage in versi sciolti.
In only rare occasions, such as the short
exchange between Fedra and Pappagallo (1.8), does the rhyme pattern span across the
dialogue of multiple characters, occasionally dividing poetic lines between characters.
This is one of the few instances in which a tempo indication is given in the score.
Table 2 – Act 1, Prologue
Original Text
Rhyme
Scheme
O strali mortali,
Compagni d’Amore,
Ch’un misero core
Si crudo ferite
Fuggite fuggite
Da questo mio seno.
Sol chiedo ch’almeno,
Per lieve dimora.
Ristoro mi diate,
Se pur non bramate
Che Fedra si mora
A
B
B
C
C
D
D
E
F
F
E
Table 3 – Act 1, scene 6
Original Text
Rhyme
Scheme
S’al vago mio bene,
Con dolce catene
Amor mi legò
S’a d’aspro dolore
Su questo mio core
Ricetto non do,
[Adagio]
Se gioie sì care
fortuna mi dà,
Dolcezze piu rare,
si goda chi l’ha
A
A
B
C
C
B
[Adagio]
D
E
D
E
18
THE MUSIC
Vannarelli’s musical setting of Ortuso's "Ippolito" is typical of the Roman opera tradition of which Stephano Landi’s La morte d’Orfeo, written and performed
1611, is an example.
The recitativo is less melodic than the Florentine monodic counterpart, later to be called recitativo simplice or recitativo secco.
It is a quick-moving, narrow-ranged, sharply accented, irregularly punctuated, semi-musical speech.
For
example, Hippolytus and Aricia reaffirm their determination to reason with Theseus
about the unjust allegations against Hippolytus.
The scene begins in a determined
duet that segues to a section of recitativo simplice from Hippolytus (mm. 43–76).
The
melodic range is narrow.
Cadences are frequent, coinciding with poetic line endings.
Harmonic rhythm is slow while he reveals his plan to confront his father.
This style of
recitative permeates the entire opera and contains the majority of the action.
Aria or arioso-like passages break up the action as the lazzi or the tirate did in the
commedia dell’arte.
By the middle of the 17th century, these arias could generally be
classified into three categories: strophic songs, through-composed arias, and arias over an
ostinato bass.
Strophic songs repeat a solo section either literally or with more or less
Stephano Landi, La morte d’Orfeo: Tragicommedia pastorale, ed. Silvia Herzog,
Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, vol. 98. (Madison, WI: A–R
Editions, 1999).
44 Grout and Williams, 77.
45 For a summary of the traditions of la commedia dell’arte, see Orgelia; and Kenneth and
Laura Richards, The Commedia dell’Arte: A Documentary History, (Oxford, Basil
Blackwell, 1990).
46 Grout and Williams, 80–86.
19
variation. For example, Phaedra resigns to commit suicide and invites the release brought
only by death in a strophic aria (3.2). A ritornello (m. 18) bookends a repeating strophe
(see table 4).
Table 4 – Phaedra's Aria, Act 3, scene 2
Ritornello Strophe 1 Strophe 2 Ritornello
m. 18 m. 25 m. 25 m. 38
Through-composed arias, the predecessor of the da capo aria, are less regular than
strophic arias and can include multiple sections, generally in two parts with separating
ritornelli.
This form represents the “main channel of development of operatic style in the
later seventeenth century.”
They can be either comic or serious in subject matter.
Pappagallo sings a humorous aria in this form bemoaning the nature of women to pass
the time while hunting (1.14). He begins singing the ritornello “Con qualché canzonetta”
(mm. 23–31), which immediately repeats (mm. 32–39) and only later appears in the
instruments (mm. 49–57, mm. 65–73, mm. 83–91, mm. 100–107). Table 5 maps the aria
as a complex binary form in which ritornelli divide each section.
The ritornelli are in
triple meter while the “a” sections, the only section that changes in repetition, are in
duple.
The “b” sections, in triple, are identical each time and are perhaps better analyzed
as an extension of the ritornelli.
The concluding ritornello lacks only the text that
accompanied it at the opening of the aria.
Table 5 – Pappagallo’s Aria, Act 1, scene 12
Rit. A A’ a Rit. b Rit. a Rit. B Rit.
m. 23 m. 40 m. 49 m. 58 m. 65 m. 74 m. 83 m. 92 m. 99
47 Ibid., 81.
20
Vannarelli presents a more serious version of the same form with only minor
alterations when he introduces Aricia’s character into the opera (1.6).
As in Pappagallo’s
aria, only the text of the “a” section changes in repetition.
Unique to this aria, however, is
the marked tempo change in the repetition of the “b” section. Table 6 charts the overall
form. Similar to Pappagallo’s aria, ritornelli with short instrumental interludes accentuate
the change in sections. Vannarelli concludes with only an abbreviated ritornello.
Table 6– Aricia's Aria, Act 1, scene 6
Ritornello A A’ a b b’ Adagio a’ b b’ Adagio Ritornello
m. 1 m. 6 m.
19 m. 24 m. 34 m.
46 m. 51 m. 58
Arias over an ostinato bass are most commonly marked with a serious mood in a
slow triple meter.48
This is a common form for passages of lament (2.12).
Fedra has
overheard the sorrowful farewells of Hippolytus and Aricia and is overcome by their
grief.
She recognizes the unjust nature of her desire and laments her own pain and the
sorrow she has caused her beloved (m. 125).
Fedra delivers the text, ottonario lines with
the incatenata rhyme pattern ABAB, over a continually descending G minor scale in a
slow triple meter that aligns with the beginning of each poetic line.
Formally the aria is a
simple binary with a varied repetition of the B section with instrumental interludes
between each line of text (see table 7).
48 Ibid., 81.
Table 7– Phaedra's Aria, Act 2, scene 12
Music/Text A B B’
Rhyme
Pattern
Rit.
a B a b a b
Measure 125 128 133 136 140 144 148
Vannarelli frequently uses standard musical formulas, often to represent musically
the action on the stage.
The descending tetrachord ostinato bass, as mentioned above, is a
common practice for the time period to express anguish and lament. Although archaic by
his time period, Vannarelli frequently uses a Phrygian cadence to express a similar
emotion (3.6, mm.11–12; 1.11, mm. 12–13).
He does so perhaps to evoke to the audience through its archaic sound the early date of the original legend.
Although not audible to
the audience, Vannarelli uses white note notation (see plate 4) on a two occasions (1.12;
2.12).
The practice was generally abandoned by Vannarelli’s time and he limits the use to
moments of grandeur by Theseus, as he returns triumphant from the underworld (1.12),
and Phaedra, when she realizes the damage her lust has caused (2.12).
Vannarelli also frequently
uses a cadential cliché, so-called the Corelli clash, to conclude major sections (1.1, mm.
116–17).
The formula presents a V-I movement with a suspension.
At the moment the
suspension is resolved, one of the voices sounds the tonic as an anticipation.
The result is
the “clash” of the leading tone and the tonic simultaneously immediately before the
cadential resolution.
Vannarelli is also very careful about his musical setting of the libretto.
For
example, he notates a free sounding rhythmic pattern for Pappagallo’s stuttering (1.2 mm.
22
24–26).
Vannarelli also uses tonality to reflect the drama on stage brought about through a
limited use of key signatures.
Although Vannarelli generally keeps the tonality around G
major and minor and their related keys, at certain critical points he reaches for more
distant keys.
Vannarelli typically sets scenes expressing lament, for example, in C or G
minor (1.11, 2.8, 2.12, 2.16, 2.18, 3.4, 3.6).
Within those scenes he allows the tonality to
drift to distant keys to reflect the drama.
In Hippolito and Aricia’s sorrowful farewell
(2.12) the harmony begins in G minor as the two are sorrowfully determined to retain the
memory of their love although distance will separate them.
He moves to D minor (m. 22)
as Aricia offers a simple parting gift to her beloved and cadences on E in a half cadence
as she is overcome with sorrow.
The harmony immediately turns G major (m. 40) as
Aricia, and later joined by Hippolytus, attempts to have a more positive long term
perspective.
G is then reinterpreted as V/V in F major (m. 55) as the two determine not to
let their unjust fate overcome them.
Although F is never very tonally stable, just as is
their determination, it is reinterpreted as IV in a clear cadence on C major (m. 66).
Immediately Vannarelli shift to C minor (m. 67) with occasional references to E-flat
major (m. 86) and to F minor (m. 91) as a languishing Hippolytus accepts his beloved’s
parting gift.
The introduction of Fedra’s vocal line (m. 100) regains G minor abruptly
after a cadence in C minor. In a section of fury (m. 104), Fedra rises to B-flat major and
quickly modulated to F major (m. 107).
Through a stream of secondary dominants
Vannarelli establishes D major (m. 114) that is reinterpreted as the V in G minor (m. 124)
as her conscience returns and she realizes her error.
Except for occasional references to
23
secondary dominants, a mournful G minor remains the prominent tonality through the
end of the scene.
PLOT SUMMARY FOR VANNARELLI-ORTUSO, "Ippolito", Teatro Nobili, Spoleto, Carnival 1661.
Act I
Prologue – Scene 5
"Amore" opens the opera revealing that he has selected "Fedra" for an experiment in
love that will conclude in her demise.
The focus moves to Fedra who has just revealed to her nurse, her newfound lust for her stepson Ippolito.
The nurse warns Fedra that Ippolito has never been interested in love and the pursuit can only end in pain for all involved.
Seeing that the nurse is unable to persuade her otherwise, the nurse consents to help
Fedra in her pursuit.
Fedra sees Ippolito approaching, returning from a recent hunt with
his servant.
Ippolito sees Fedra’s distressed face and inquires after the
reason of her trouble.
Fedra responds that she is depressed because of the absence of her
husband, Teseo.
Ippolito respectfully attempts to console her with the news that Teseo
will soon return.
Fedra vaguely responds that Hippolito’s face so much resembles the
face of her husband that the person she desires does not need to return.
This confuses Ippolito.
He fears he has understood Fedra’s double meaning too well and that he is the
object of her desire.
Fedra's nurse and Ippolito's servant are left alone and reveal their mutual affection playfully.
Aricia introduces herself as Ippolito’s secret lover and articulates her longing to
hear news of his return from hunting.
Ippolito's hunting servant arrives and brings word that Ippolito
awaits her in a nearby apartment.
When the two enter the royal rooms, Fedra confronts them and inquires about their late arrival.
Aricia feigns that she has come to pay respect to Fedra who is curious about the change in Aricia’s countenance.
Fedra determines that
the change is caused by love, but Aricia refutes the theory by falsely stating that she has
never been interested in love.
Fedra and Aricia are interrupted by the arrival of Ippolito whom
Fedra has previously summoned.
Aricia conceals her presence in order to admire her love
from afar.
Fedra begins a philosophical conversation with Ippolito in which they
conclude that to find one’s beloved is a miracle of love.
Fedra immediately reveals her secret passion for Ippolito.
Ippolito decidedly refuses Fedra.
Fedra, undeterred by his refusal, makes
an advance on him.
Ippolito draws his sword.
She welcomes death by his hand if he truly
refuses her.
Ippolito refuses to strike her and leaves her alone with his sword.
Aricia, a secret
witness of all that has happened, is overjoyed at Ippolito’s loyalty.
Fedra, left alone,
morns her sorrowful state and believes her only relief is in her own death.
She is taken
aback by these thoughts and reminds herself that she is a queen.
She determines that if any should die, it should be Ippolito, and devises a plan of lies to convince Teseo of his son’s treason.
Teseo returns after from a long journey in Tartaro.
Teseo states that if only he has
the love of his wife, his torments have not been in vain.
Ippolito and Aricia reunite and go to the forest to hunt.
Ippolito's hunting servant concludes the act with a humorous tirade about the
nature of women.
ATTO II.
Fedra holds Ippolito’s abandoned sword, attempting to commit suicide.
The nurse restrains Fedra.
Fedra and her nurse are interrupted by the return of Teseo.
Teseo asks why Fedra desires death.
******************* DEPARTURE FROM EURIPIDE:
After much persuasion, Fedra reveals that Ippolito had attempted to rape her, and
she offers Ippolito’s abandoned sword as evidence.
*********
Teseo believes Fedra’s story
without reservation and determines to kill his son.
Fedra's nurse, who overhears Teseo, flees to warn Ippolito.
Fedra's nurse is interrupted by the
arrival of Ippolito's servant and the two engage in a discussion that is a lightly veiled series of
comic sexual innuendos.
Fedra's nurse at long last tells Ippolito's servant of Teseo’s fury and advises
him to warn Hippolito.
Ippolito's servant departs but instead finds Aricia, recently returned from the
hunt.
Ippolito's servant explains to Aricia of Fedra’s betrayal and Teseo’s fury.
Aricia mourns the impending death of her beloved.
Fedra relates to Teseo her fictitious painful encounter with Ippolito.
Teseo becomes even more infuriated.
In a parallel setting in the next scene, Hippolito and Aricia
determine to convince Teseo of Hippolito’s innocence.
Hippolito states the source of his
anguish is that he has lived a pure life and accuses Teseo of tyranny.
Aricia begs
Hippolito to flee to the forest, but they are stopped by Teseo.
Hippolito and Aricia
attempt to offer an explanation but Teseo does not permit them to speak and banishes
them.
The lovers, left alone, bid a sorrowful farewell overheard by Fedra.
She is so
moved by their sorrow that she determines to avenge Hippolito’s innocent death with her own.
********************** IPPOLITO CADUTO (e realzato). LA CADUTA D'IPPOLITO
*****************************************************
Teseo believes his pain will end with his son’s death,
and Ippolito is killed
offstage.
**************************************** So, in the first Ippolito ever, Ippolito falls OFFSTAGE.
Fedra confesses to her nurse that she is guilty for having lied to Teseo about his
son and that she must die to be free from it.
Fedra's nurse confirms her deceit but tells her that
surely she will have pity if she tells Teseo the truth.
Aricia, returned to the countryside, mourns the loss of her beloved and admonishes the forest to protect his body.
To join her
beloved, she contemplates suicide.
A group of hunters carrying a
******mortally wounded*******
Ippolito interrupts her.
Ippolito pleads with her to abandon her foolish desire for
death, then faints.
A hunter tells Aricia that they will take Hippolito to Aesculapius, the
god of medicine.
ATTO III.
Fedra determines that the only way to free herself of her guilt is to end her own
life.
She calls for Fidalba and asks for something with which to write.
She invites the
sleep of death.
Fidalba returns to find Fedra asleep and desires to sleep as well.
Fedra,
still asleep, believes Fidalba to be the spirit of Hippolito come for revenge.
Fidalba wakes
her and tells her again that suicide will not release her from her pain.
Fedra takes the
items Fidalba has brought her and commands her to leave.
********************
Fedra stabs herself
and writes
a letter in her own blood revealing Hippolito’s innocence
and dies.
**********************
Fidalba returns to Fedra and believes her to be asleep.
She discovers Fedra’s
wound and calls for help.
Teseo comes to her and finds Fedra dead.
He is overcome by
pain and determines to have justice.
He sees the note and reads it.
************ HIGH PEAK OF TRAGEDY, in terms of masculinity (father/son):
He mourns at the loss of
his innocent son.
***********
Aricia, who is nearby, hears Teseo’s lament and joins him.
She advises
him to bury his guilt and look to the future.
An approaching group interrupts them.
Ippolito, healed, is reunited with Teseo and Aricia.
Teseo and Hippolito
are reconciled and Teseo blesses Hippolito and Aricia in marriage.
28
PLATES
Plate 1 – Title Page. Vannarelli, Francesco. “Fedra ed Hippolito.” Score. Rari 6.5.14,
Biblioteca del conservatorio di musica S. Pietro a Majella, Naples.
Plate 2 - Act 1, scene 1, 1r.
29
Plate 3 - Act 3, scene 8, 176v.
Plate 4 - Act 1, scene 11, 54v.
30
CAST LIST AND CHARACTER SUMMARY
In order of appearance with original clefs:
Amore..............................................................................................S
Love.
She curses Fedra with lust for her stepson Hippolito.
Fidalba ............................................................................................ A
The wet nurse and loyal companion of Fedra. She is love with
Pappagallo and opposes Fedra’s desire for Hippolito.
Fedra................................................................................................S
Queen by marriage, Fedra is the second wife of Teseo and stepmother to
Hippolito.
As the result of Amore’s curse, she lusts after Hippolito and
confides only in Fidalba.
Ippolito......................................................................................... T
A hunter. He is son of Teseo and the object of Fedra’s desire.
Traditionally he has no interest in love but here he is secretly love with
Aricia.
Pappagallo .......................................................................................T
The comic stuttering companion of Hippolito. He is in love with Fidalba
but mocks woman’s fickle nature.
Aricia ...............................................................................................S
The secret love of Hippolito.
Teseo ...............................................................................................T
Traditionally the king of Athens but here the location is purposefully
ambiguous. After a long absence in Tartarus, he returns to his wife
Fedra.
Secondo .......................................................................................... B
A member of Hippolito’s hunting party.
Chorus of Hunters ..................................................................... TTB
Hippolito’s hunting party.
Chorus of Horsemen...................................................................SSA
A group returning with a resurrected Hippolito
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