Ascanio in Alba, K. 111

Köchel-Verzeichnis

The Köchel-Verzeichnis is a complete, chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was originally created by Ludwig von Köchel. It is abbreviated K or KV. For example, Mozart's Requiem in D minor was, according to Köchel's counting, the 626th piece Mozart composed....

, is a pastoral

Pastoral

The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...

 opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in two parts (Festa teatrale

Festa teatrale

The term festa teatrale refers to a genre of drama, and of opera in particular. The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case feste teatrali tend to be split into two different sets: feste teatrali divided by acts are operas, while works in this genre performed without division, or merely...

 in due atti) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 to an Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Giuseppe Parini

Giuseppe Parini

Giuseppe Parini was an Italian Enlightenment satirist and poet of the neoclassic period.-Biography:Parini was born in Bosisio in Brianza, Lombardy...

. This youthful opera by Mozart contains outstanding arias and brilliant moments of musical drama.

Performance history

It was first performed at the Teatro Regio Ducal

Teatro Regio Ducal

The Teatro Regio Ducal was the opera house in Milan from 26 December 1717 until 25 February 1776, when it was burned down following a carnival gala. Many famous composers and their operas are associated with it, including the premieres of Mozart's Ascanio in Alba, Mitridate, re di Ponto, and Lucio...

 in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, on 17 October 1771.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, October 17, 1771 (Conductor: - )
Venere (Venus)	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Geltrude Falcini
Ascanio Ascanius Ascanius is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and a legendary king of Alba Longa. He is a character of Roman mythology, and has a divine lineage, being the son of Aeneas, who is son of Venus and the hero Anchises, a relative of Priam; thus Ascanius has divine ascendents by both parents, being... , her son, son of Aeneas	alto Alto Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...  castrato Castrato A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...  or mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Giovanni Manz(u)oli Giovanni Manzuoli Giovanni Manzuoli was an Italian castrato who sang as a soprano at the beginning of his career, and later as a contralto.-History:...
Silvia, a nymph descended from Hercules	soprano	A. Maria Girelli
Aceste, a priest of Venus	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Giuseppe Tibaldi
Fauno, a shepherd	soprano castrato	Adamo Solzi
Genii, Shepherds & Shepherdesses (chorus)

Synopsis

Place: the site of the future city of Alba Longa

Alba Longa

Alba Longa – in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga – was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of...

, near Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

Time: mythical times.

Act 1

The opening scene introduces Venus

Venus (mythology)

Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...

 and Ascanio, the son she had by Aeneas

Aeneas

Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...

. (In most classical sources, Venus/Aphrodite is the mother of Aeneas.) The goddess vaunts the charms of Alba and invites her son to go and rule there. She urges him not to reveal his identity to Silvia, a nymph to whom he is betrothed, but to introduce himself to her under a false identity to test her virtue. While shepherds summon their promised ruler, Fauno reveals that the smiling face of Aceste, a priest, is a sign that the day will be a day of supreme happiness. Obeying the goddess, Ascanio pretends to be a foreigner attracted by the beauties of the place. Aceste tells the shepherds that their valley will be the site of a fine city and that they will have a sovereign, Ascanio, before the day is out. He also informs Silvia that she will be Ascanio’s bride, but she replies that she is in love with a young man she has seen in a dream. The priest reassures her, saying the young man in her can be none other than Ascanio. Venus then appears to Ascanio and asks him to test the girl a little longer before revealing his true identity.

Act 2

Ascanio spots Silvia among the shepherds and tries to talk to her. The girl immediately recognizes the young man from her dreams. Fauno intervenes and suggests to “the foreigner” (Ascanio) that he should go off and announce the building
of Alba in foreign parts. Thus convinced that the foreigner is not Ascanio, Silvia is deeply saddened. She finally decides to accept her fate but declares she never will love anyone else than Ascanio.

Aceste consoles Silvia, saying that her tribulations are about to come to an end. Venus is invoked by a magnificent chorus. Silvia and Ascanio add their voices to the chorus and the goddess descends on her chariot surrounded by clouds. Venus unites the two lovers and explains how she had intended her son to discover the virtue of his fiancée. Aceste pronounces an oath of fidelity and loyalty to Venus, who then retires. It only remains for Ascanio to perpetuate the race of Aeneas and guide the city of Alba to prosperity.

Noted arias

Act 1

• "Ah di sì nobil", Ascanio
• "Al chiaror di que' bei rai", Venus
• "Cara, lontano", Ascanio
• "Come è felice stato", Silvia
• "L'ombra de rami tuoi", Venus
• "Per la gioja in questo seno", Aceste
• "Se il labbro più no dice", Fauno
• "Si, ma d'un altro amore", Silvia

Act 2

• "Al mio ben mi veggio avanti", Ascanio
• "Dal tuo gentil sembiante", Fauno in
• "Infelici affetti miei", Silvia in
• "Sento che il cor mi dice", Aceste
• "Spiega il desio le pinme", Silvia
• "Torna mia bene", Ascanio

List of numbers

• Overture
• No.1 Ballet: Andante grazioso
• No.2 Coro di geni e grazie: Di te più amabile, ne Dea maggiore
• Recitativo Venere: geni, grazie, ed Amori, fermate il piè
• No.3 Aria Venere: L'ombra de' rami tuoi
• Recitativo Ascanio & Venere: Ma la ninfa gentil
• No.4 Coro di geni e grazie: Di te più amabile, nè Dea maggiore
• Rectativo accompagnato Ascanio: Perchè tacer degg'io?
• No.5 Aria Ascanio: Cara, lontano ancora
• No.6 Coro di pastori: Venga, de' sommi Eroi
• Recitativo Ascanio & Fauno: Ma qual canto risona?
• No.7 Coro di pastori: Venga, de' sommi Eroi
• Recitativo Fauno & Ascanio: Ma tu, chi sei, che ignoto qui t'aggiri fra noi?
• No.8 Aria Fauno: Se il labbro più non dice
• Recitativo Ascanio & Fauno: Quanto soavi al core de la tua stirpe
• No.9 Coro di pastori e pastorelle: Hai di Diana il core
• Recitativo Aceste: Oh, generosa Diva
• No.10 Coro di pastori: Venga, de' sommi Eroi
• Recitativo Aceste: Di propria man la Dea a voi la donera
• No.11 Coro di pastori: Venga, de' sommi Eroi
• Recitativo Aceste: Oh mia gloria, oh mia cura

• No.12 Aria Aceste: Per la gioia in questo seno
• Recitativo Silvia & Aceste: Misera! Che farò
• No.13 Cavatina: Si, si, ma d'un altro amore
• Recitativo Aceste & Silvia: Ah no, Silvia t'inganni
• No.14 Aria Silvia: Come è felice stato
• Recitativo Aceste: Silvia, mira, che il sole omai s'avanza
• No.15 Coro di pastori: Venga, de' sommi Eroi
• Recitativo Ascanio & Venere: Cielo! Che vidi mai?
• No.16 Aria Ascani: Ah di sì nobil alma
• Recitativo Venere & Ascanio: Un'altra prova a te mirar conviene
• No.17 Aria Venere: Al chiaror di que' bei rai
• No.18 Coro di geni e grazie: Di te più amabile, nè Dea maggiore
• Recitativo Silvia: Star lontana non so
• No.19 Aria Silvia: Spiega il desio
• No.20 Coro di pastorelle: Già l'ore sen volano
• Recitativo Ascanio: Cerco di loco in loco
• Recitativo Silvia & Ascanio: Oh ciel! che miro?
• Recitativo Silvia, Ascanio & Fauno: Silvia, ove sei?
• No.21 Aria Fauno: Dal tuo gentil sembiante
• Recitativo Ascanio & Silvia: Ahimè! Che veggio mai?
• No.22 Aria Ascanio: Al mio ben mi veggio avanti

• Recitativo accompagnato Silvia: Ferma, aspetta, ove vai?
• No.23 Aria Silvia: Infelici affetti miei
• Recitativo Ascanio & Silvia: Anima grande
• No.24 Coro di pastorelle: Che strano evento
• Recitativo Ascanio: Ahi la crudel
• No.25 Aria Ascanio: Torna mio bene, ascolta
• No.26 Coro di pastori: Venga, de' sommi Eroi
• Recitativo Aceste: Che strana meraviglia
• No.27 Aria Aceste : Sento, che il cor mi dice
• Recitativo Silvia: Si, Padre, alfin mi taccia
• No.28 Coro di pastori e ninfe e pastorelle: Scendi, celeste Venere
• Recitativo Silvia, Aceste & Ascanio: Ma s'allontani almen
• No.29 Coro di pastori e pastorelle: No,non possiamo vivere
• Recitativo Aceste: Ecco ingombran l'altare
• No.30 Coro: Scendi, celeste Venere
• Recitativo Aceste, Silvia, Ascanio, Venere: Invoca, o figlia
• No.31 Terzetto Silvia, Ascanio, Aceste: Ah caro sposo, oh Dio!
• Recitativo Venere: Eccovi al fin di vostre pene
• No.32 Piccola parte del terzetto precedente Silvia, Ascanio, Aceste: Che bel piacer io sento
• Recitativo Silvia, Ascanio, Aceste, Venere: Ah chi nodi più forti
• No.33 Coro ultimo di geni, grazie, pastori e ninfe: Alma Dea, tutto il mondo governa

External links

• Historical background and review by Jan-Willem Besuijen
• Discussion of the article above
• MP3s of the Opera at the Mozart-Tower website
• Ascanio in Alba : Libretto