Axur, re d'Ormus is 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...

tic dramma tragicomico in five acts by Antonio Salieri

Antonio Salieri

Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....

. The libretto was by Lorenzo da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....

.

Axur is the Italian version of Salieri's 1787 French-language

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 work Tarare which had a libretto by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais.

Performance history

Axur premiered at the Burgtheater

Burgtheater

The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 on 8 January 1788, the title role being sung by Francesco Benucci, Mozart's first Figaro

The Marriage of Figaro

Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...

. It became one of the most famous operas in Vienna, being performed much more frequently than Mozart's Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...

, which was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1788.

The finale of Axur appears in the 1984 film Amadeus

Amadeus (film)

Amadeus is a 1984 period drama film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the...

. The film is incorrect in presenting Axur as being performed soon after the ninth and final performance of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in 1786, and before the death of Mozart's father Leopold Mozart

Leopold Mozart

Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...

 on 28 May 1787.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 8 January 1788 (Conductor:)
Axur, King of Ormus	baritone	Francesco Benucci
Arteneo, High Priest of Brahma	baritone	Francesco Bussani
Altamor, a soldier, Arteneo's son	bass	Lodovico Trentanove
Atar, a soldier	tenor	Vincenzo Calvesi Vincenzo Calvesi Vincenzo Calvesi was an Italian operatic tenor and impresario. A skillful lyric tenor, he began his career performing in opera houses in Italy during the 1770s. He was active in Dresden in 1782 to 1783 and then spent most of his time performing in Vienna from 1785 to 1794...
Aspasia, Atar's wife	soprano	Luisa Laschi-Mombelli
Biscroma, a slave	tenor	Stefano Mandini
Fiammetta, Biscroma's wife	soprano	Teresa Calvesi
Elamir	boy soprano	Franziska Distler
Urson, a soldier	bass	Niccolò Del Sole
A slave	bass
Arlecchino	bass
Smeraldina	soprano
Brighella	tenor
Slaves, soldiers, priests of Brahma, people

Recordings

The overture has been recorded by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) conducted by Michael Dittrich, on Naxos Records

Naxos Records

Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...

. The Finale can be found on the More Amadeus soundtrack, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.

The whole opera was recorded by René Clemencic in 1989 in Siena with the Orchestra Filarmonica di Russe and Coro "Guido d'Arezzo", with Andreas Martin in the title role, and other leading roles taken by Eva Mei (Aspasia), Curtis Rayam (Atar) and Ettore Nova (Biscroma/Brighella). The recording was issued by Nuova Era in 2001 (NE 7366 & 67) and reissued in 2005.