Ercole su'l Termodonte
Encyclopedia
Ercole su'l Termodonte is a baroque
Italian opera
in three acts. In 1723, it became the sixteenth opera set to music by Antonio Vivaldi
. Its catalogue number is RV 710. The libretto
was written by Antonio Salvi
(not Giacomo Francesco Bussani
as previously misattributed) . The opera was premiered January 23, 1723 in Rome's Teatro Capranica. Due to a papal edict preventing women from appearing onstage in Rome, it premiered with castrati
singing all the female roles. Vivaldi was both conductor and solo violinist.
Although the score was believed to have been lost, 30 arias and 2 duets were discovered in several archives, and the rest of the opera was reconstructed by Alessandro Ciccolini.
and capture the sword of the Amazon
Queen Antiope. (In other versions of the story, the quest was for her magical girdle.) The Amazons
were a tribe of female warriors who put all their male children to death.
Hercules, accompanied by the heroes Theseus
, Telamon
and Alceste
, attacks the Amazons and captures Martesia, daughter of the queen. The Amazons then capture Theseus and, as soon as Queen Antiope swears to sacrifice him, Martesia falls in love with him. In the end, the goddess Diana
decrees the marriage of Hippolyte with Theseus, prince of Athens, and of Martesia with Telamon, king of Ithaca
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
Italian opera
Italian opera
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers,...
in three acts. In 1723, it became the sixteenth opera set to music by Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
. Its catalogue number is RV 710. The 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...
was written by Antonio Salvi
Antonio Salvi
Antonio Salvi was an Italian physician, court poet and librettist. He was in the service of the ducal court in Florence and the favourite librettist of Prince Ferdinando de' Medici. Salvi was one of the developers of the opera seria.- Life :Salvi was a court physician in Florence for the De'...
(not Giacomo Francesco Bussani
Giacomo Francesco Bussani
Giacomo Francesco Bussani was a Venetian librettist.He wrote seven known librettos; 5 for Antonio Sartorio, and one each for Carlo Pallavicino and Pietro Agostini....
as previously misattributed) . The opera was premiered January 23, 1723 in Rome's Teatro Capranica. Due to a papal edict preventing women from appearing onstage in Rome, it premiered with castrati
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...
singing all the female roles. Vivaldi was both conductor and solo violinist.
Although the score was believed to have been lost, 30 arias and 2 duets were discovered in several archives, and the rest of the opera was reconstructed by Alessandro Ciccolini.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 1723 (Conductor Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble... : Antonio Vivaldi ) |
|---|---|---|
| Hercules (Ercole) | 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... |
Giovanni Battista Pinacci |
| Antiope, Queen of the Amazons | 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... 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... (en travesti En travesti Travesti is a theatrical term referring to the portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex. Some sources regard 'travesti' as an Italian term, some as French. Depending on sources, the term may be given as travesty, travesti, or en travesti... ) |
Giovanni Ossi |
| Martesia, Antiope's daughter | 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... castrato (en travesti) |
Girolamo Bartoluzzi |
| Hippolyte, Antiope's sister | 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... castrato (en travesti) |
Giacinto Fontana, "Farfallino" |
| Orizia, Antiope's second sister | soprano castrato (en travesti) | Giovanni Dreyer |
| Theseus, prince of Athens | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... castrato |
Giovanni Battista Minelli |
| Alceste, king of Sparta | soprano castrato | Giovanni Carestini Giovanni Carestini Giovanni Carestini was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel... |
| Telamone, king of Ithaca | contralto castrato | Giuseppe Domenico Galletti |
Synopsis
The story is based on the ninth of twelve legendary Labors of Hercules. To atone for killing his children in wrath, Hercules must perform twelve labors, the ninth of which is to travel to ThermodonThermodon
The Terme River is in the border of Terme district, located in central northern Turkey between the cities of Ordu and Samsun. The river flows about 50 km east of the coastal city Samsun into the Black Sea....
and capture the sword of the Amazon
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
Queen Antiope. (In other versions of the story, the quest was for her magical girdle.) The Amazons
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
were a tribe of female warriors who put all their male children to death.
Hercules, accompanied by the heroes Theseus
Theseus
For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were...
, Telamon
Telamon
In Greek mythology, Telamon , son of the king Aeacus, of Aegina, and Endeis and brother of Peleus, accompanied Jason as one of his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. In the Iliad he was the father of Greek heroes Ajax the Great and Teucer the Archer by different...
and Alceste
Alceste
Alceste may refer to:*Alcestis, mythical Greek princess*Alceste De Ambris, Italian socialistLiterature:*Alcestis , by Euripides *Alceste, the queen and wife of the god of love in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women...
, attacks the Amazons and captures Martesia, daughter of the queen. The Amazons then capture Theseus and, as soon as Queen Antiope swears to sacrifice him, Martesia falls in love with him. In the end, the goddess Diana
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
decrees the marriage of Hippolyte with Theseus, prince of Athens, and of Martesia with Telamon, king of Ithaca
Recordings
- DVD: (Spoleto Festival 2006 - 2007) Vivaldi - Ercole su'l Termodonte / Il Complesso Barocco, Curtis . Performers: Zachary Stains, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Laura Cherici, Luca Dordolo, Marina Bartoli, Randall Scotting, Filippo Mineccia / Il Complesso Barocco, conductor: Alan CurtisAlan Curtis (harpsichordist)Alan Curtis is a noted American harpsichordist, musicologist, and conductor of baroque opera. After graduate studies at the University of Illinois , where he wrote his dissertation on the keyboard music of Sweelinck, he studied in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt, with whom he subsequently recorded...
, director: John Pascoe. Dynamic (record label)Dynamic (record label)Dynamic is an Italian independent record label located in Genoa. Founded in 1978, it specialises in classical music and opera, especially rarely performed works and has produced several world premiere recordings...
, Italy. - CD: (2010) Vivaldi - Ercole su'l Termodonte / conductor: Fabio BiondiFabio BiondiFabio Biondi is an Italian violinist and conductor.Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi began his international career at the age of 12 playing a concerto with the RAI Symphony Orchestra. When he was 16, he performed Bach's violin concertos at the Musikverein in Vienna...
. With Vivica GenauxVivica GenauxVivica Genaux is an American coloratura mezzo-soprano. Her father, an American of Belgian-Welsh descent, was a biochemistry professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and her mother, Mexican-born of Swiss-German extraction, was a language teacher...
, Diana DamrauDiana DamrauDiana Damrau is a German lyric coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.-Biography:Diana Damrau was born in 1971 in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany, and began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg. After graduating from music conservatory she worked in Salzburg...
, Patrizia CiofiPatrizia CiofiPatrizia Ciofi, born in Casole d'Elsa, Siena, on June 7, 1967, is an Italian operatic soprano. She is married to the conductor Luciano Acocella....
, Joyce DiDonatoJoyce DiDonatoJoyce DiDonato is an award-winning American operatic mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini...
, Romina Basso, Philippe JarousskyPhilippe JarousskyPhilippe Jaroussky is a French sopranist countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory and then took up the piano before turning to singing...
, Rolando VillazonRolando VillazónEmilio Rolando Villazón Mauleón is a Mexican tenor. He settled in France and in 2007 became a French citizen.-Early life and education:...
, Topi LehtipuuTopi LehtipuuTopi Lehtipuu is a Finnish operatic tenor. He has sung a variety of roles from different periods, including the title role in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring at the Finnish National Opera, several roles in Mozart operas, including Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Tamino in Die...
. Virgin Classics. Recorded January 2009 in Florence, Italy.