Wednesday, October 8, 2014

LA CIRCE -- libretto di Domenico Perelli (Teatro S. Benedetto, Venezia, 1779).

Speranza

 

        



































La Circe is a melodramma in three acts by Josef Mysliveček set to a libretto by Domenico Perelli that is based on Graeco-Roman legends about the sorceress Circe.

This opera (and all the rest of Mysliveček's operas) belong to the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria.

"La Circe" was first performed at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venezia on 12 May 1779 to open the theater's unique Ascension operatic season.

It was the last of the composer's three operas produced in Venezia.

No complete score survives from the production, only a few individual arias that found their way into aria collections.

The cast was distinguished, including as it did Luigi Marchesi, one of the composer's close friends and professional associates, and Cecilia Davies.


Roles:

CastVoice typePremiere, 12 May 1779, Teatro San Benedetto, Venice
Circe,
queen of the Sarmatians,
lover of Ulisse
sopranoCecilia Davies
Ulisse,
king of Ithaca,
lover of Circe
 Luigi Marchesi
Prisco,
king of Lazio,
lover of Circe, and
betrothed to Canente
tenorGiacinto Perrone
Canente,
noblewoman of Lazio,
betrothed to Prisco
sopranoVittoria Moreschi Bolzano
Sabino, ambassador of Lazio, confidant of Priscosoprano castratoGaetano Quistapace
Clerinto, general of the guards of CirceuncertainGiuseppe Desirò


Vocal Set Pieces

Act I, scene 3 - Cavatina of Ulisse, "Spiegar non sò qual è" (Music lost)
Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Prisco, "Ah, se per te del seno" (Music lost)
Act I, scene 5 - Aria of Circe, "Ah, come mai resistere" (Music lost)
Act I, scene 8 - Aria of Canente, "Sol quei che provano" (Music lost)
Act I, scene 9 - Aria of Ulisse, "Saprai con tuo rossore"
Act I, scene 11 - Aria of Sabino, "Pensa che sei Latino" (Music lost)
Act I, scene 12 - Trio for Ulisse, Prisco, and Circe, "Senti bell'idol mio"
Act II, scene 1 - Aria of Clerinto, "Così talor se mira" (Music lost)
Act II, scene 2 - Aria of Sabino, "Vado alla cara sposa" (Music lost)
Act II, scene 3 - Aria of Prisco, "Di cento dubbi, e cento" (Music lost)
Act II, scene 6 - Aria of Ulisse, "Idol mio, pietoso il fato" (Music lost)
Act II, scene 9 - Aria of Canente, "È già sereno il cielo" (Music lost)
Act II, scene 11 - Duet for Ulisse and Circe, "Non sia ver, bell'idol mio" (Music lost)
Act III, scene 3 - Aria of Ulissa, "Dille, costante" (Music lost)
Act III, scene 4 - Aria of Sabino, "Nella crudele fiera tempesta" (Music lost)
Act III, scene 6 - Aria of Prisco, "Già i venti tacciono" (Music lost)
Act III, scene 10 - Aria of Circe, "D'un alma abbandonata" (Music lost)
Act III, scene 11 - Quartet for Circe, Prisco, Sabino, and Canente, "Alme amante, se sperate" (Music lost)


References

  • Freeman, Daniel E. Josef Mysliveček, "Il Boemo." Sterling Heights, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 2009.
 

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