Il Bellerofonte is an 18th-century Italian 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 three acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček

Josef Myslivecek

Josef Mysliveček was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music...

. It conforms to the serious type (opera seria

Opera seria

Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...

) that was typically set in the distant past. 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...

, based on the Greek legend of Bellerophon

Bellerophon

Bellerophon or Bellerophontes is a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside of Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a...

, was written by Giuseppe Bonecchi

Giuseppe Bonecchi

Giuseppe Bonecchi - was an Italian poet and opera librettist.He was brought to Russia in 1740 by Francesco Araja, an Italian composer working in Russia....

. The work was dedicated to King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies

Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...

 and was first performed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 on 20 January 1767, the birthday of his father, King Charles III of Spain

Charles III of Spain

Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...

. The cast featured two stellar singers of the time, Caterina Gabrielli

Caterina Gabrielli

Caterina Gabrielli was an Italian soprano.-Biography:Caterina Gabrielli was the daughter of a cook in the service of prince Gabrielli, in Rome...

 and Anton Raaff

Anton Raaff

Anton Raaff was a German tenor from Gelsdorf near Bonn.-Career:He studied at the Jesuit school in Bonn where the Elector of Bavaria, Clement Augustus, heard him singing and paid for him to train professionally. Raaff was brought to the capital, Munich, where he was engaged on an annual salary of...

 in the leading roles. The opera was only the composer's second one, and the first that permitted him the opportunity to write music for first-rate vocal artists. The production was highly successful, indeed responsible for a meteoric rise in his reputation as an operatic composer. From the time of the premiere of Bellerofonte until his death in 1781, Mysliveček succeeded in having more new opere serie brought into production than any other composer in Europe. During the same time span, he also had more new operas staged at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples than any other composer.

Composition and performance history

The subject, chosen by the management of the Teatro San Carlo, was unusual among Mysliveček's operas for its choice of subject matter. Historical settings, rather than mythological ones, were usual for serious operas in Italy of the 1760s, unless elements from the French tragédie lyrique were included to create a Franco-Italian fusion. In this case, the inclusion of choruses and programmatic musical effects mark it as moderately influenced by French operatic traditions aside from the choice of mythological subject matter.

As in many 18th-century productions at the Teatro San Carlo, the first performance of Il Bellerofonte included separate ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

s, none of the music for which was composed by Mysliveček or used in subsequent performances of the opera. The premiere production included a ballet at the end of Act I , Un bassà turco (A Turkish Pasha

Pasha

Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...

), and one at the end of Act II, Pantomimo tra Pulcinella, Arlecchino e Coviello (Pantomime between Pulcinella

Pulcinella

Pulcinella, ; often called Punch or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry....

, Harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin or Arlecchino in Italian, Arlequin in French, and Arlequín in Spanish is the most popularly known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and its descendant, the Harlequinade.-Origins:...

 and Coviello

Coviello

Coviello is a minor character in the Commedia dell'arte. He falls into the category of the zanni. His name is a double diminutive of the name Giacomo . In English, he might be called Jimmy or Jackie....

). The opera was also preceded by a festive dance while a cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

 was sung in honor of King Ferdinand I (also composed by Mysliveček). The ballets were choreographed

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 by their leading dancer, Gennaro Magri. The opera was revived in Siena in spring of 1767 and Prague in carnival of 1768. A notation on a copy of the score in Paris indicates that it was revived at the San Carlo in 1769, however no librettos survive to confirm this.

Il Bellerofonte features many arias with elaborate vocal virtuosity of the type favored by Italian audiences of the 1760s. The ones most widely admired were "Splende così talora" from Act I, scene 2; "Giusti Dei" from Act I, scene 3; "Ch’io mai capace" from Act II, scene 5; and "Palesar vorrei col pianto" from Act II, scene 11. These arias were copied in aria collections throughout Italy, but they were even more widely disseminated in Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 in the collections of sacred institutions that substituted Latin texts for the original Italian. In this form, arias from Il Bellerofonte continued to circulate in central Europe well into the 19th century.

Roles

Role	Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...	Premiere, 20 January 1767, Teatro San Carlo, Naples
Bellerofonte Bellerophon Bellerophon or Bellerophontes is a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside of Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a... , Prince of Corinth Corinth Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...	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 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...	Ferdinando Mazzanti
Ariobate Iobates In Greek mythology, Iobates , a.k.a. Jobates, was a Lycian king, the father of Antea and Philonoe. Bellerophon was sent into exile to the land of King Iobates. Proetus, King of Tiryns, wanted Iobates to kill Bellerophon, but Iobates feared the wrath of the gods if he murdered a guest... , King of Lycia Lycia Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...	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...	Anton Raaff Anton Raaff Anton Raaff was a German tenor from Gelsdorf near Bonn.-Career:He studied at the Jesuit school in Bonn where the Elector of Bavaria, Clement Augustus, heard him singing and paid for him to train professionally. Raaff was brought to the capital, Munich, where he was engaged on an annual salary of...
Argene, his daughter	soprano	Caterina Gabrielli Caterina Gabrielli Caterina Gabrielli was an Italian soprano.-Biography:Caterina Gabrielli was the daughter of a cook in the service of prince Gabrielli, in Rome...
Atamante, a courtier	tenor	Giuseppe Coppola
Diomede, in the service of the King	tenor	Angelo Monanni
Briseide, his mistress	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...	Francesca Gabrielli
Minerva Minerva Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic... , goddess of wisdom	soprano/castrato	Giuseppe Benigni
Courtiers, nobles, soldiers, guards, servants

Synopsis

18th-century serious operas in Italy are typically love intrigues that resolve into happy marriages. Generally two marriages are necessary to bring all the love intrigues to a satisfactory conclusion. The lovers are often arranged in tiers based on social rank. The basic pretext of the story of Il Bellerofonte is a tragic separation of the lovers Bellerofonte and Argene due to the hostility of Argene’s father Ariobate. Bellerofonte was the son of a king of Corinth, but his birthright was usurped by one Clearco. Without a kingdom of his own, Bellerofonte is not deemed an appropriate candidate for marriage to a royal princess. Bellerofonte proves his worthiness by slaying the monster that plagues Ariobate’s kingdom with a yearly demand for the sacrifice of a noble virgin, but Ariobate accedes to the marriage of Argene and Bellerofonte only after an unexpected turn of events in the third act: news arrives that the usurper Clearco has been overthrown and Bellerofonte may re-claim the kingdom of Corinth. In a sidelight, the virgin Briseide, slated for sacrifice to the monster, is saved from death and finds a lover to marry in the "second tier" of romantic involvements.

Vocal Set Pieces

Act I, scene 1 - Chorus, "Rendi alle selve"

Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Bellerofonte, "Splende così talora"

Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Argene, "Giusti Dei, che ben vedete"

Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Ariobate, "La frode se adempio"

Act I, scene 7 - Aria of Briseide, "Non è la morte"

Act I, scene 8 - Aria of Diomede, "Prometti ognor la calma"

Act I, scene 9 - Aria of Ariobate, "Di che pupille amabili"

Act I, scene 11 - Duet for Argene and Bellerofonte, "Vanne pur, ma dimmi pria"

Act II, scene 1 - Aria of Atamante, "Già cinto sembrami"

Act II, scene 2 - Aria of Diomede, "Come potrai, tiranno"

Act II, scene 4 - Aria of Bellerofonte, "Parto, ma in quest'istante"

Act II, scene 5 - Accompanied recitative for Argene, "Sarete alfin contenti"

Act II, scene 5 - Aria of Argene, "Ch'io mai capace"

Act II, scene 10 - Aria of Ariobate, "Pria ch'io perda"

Act II, scene 11 - Aria of Argene, "Palesar vorrei col pianto"

Act II, scene 12 - Aria of Briseide, "Se ognor fa cento"

Act II, scene 13 - Accompanied recitative for Bellerofonte, "Dell'indomita belva," with aria, "Di quei sassi"

Act II, scene 14 - Accompanied recitative for Minerva, "Calma del petto," with cavatina, "Riedano gli astri amici"

Act II, scene 14 - Chorus, "Fra le procelle, e i nembi"

Act III, scene 2 - Aria of Atamante, "Nuove procelli ancora"

Act III, scene 3 - Aria of Briseide, "Torbido, e nero il da a noi"

Act III, scene 5 - Aria of Diomeded, "Qual ristretto in picciol letto"

Act III, scene 8 - Trio for Argene, Bellerofonte, and Ariobate, "Barbare stelle ingrate"

Recording

The world premiere (and so far only) recording of the opera was made in 1987 and released in 1991 on the Supraphon

Supraphon

Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...

 label, with Gladys Mayo (Argene); Douglas F. Ahlstedt (Ariobate), Raul Giménez (Atamante); Celina Lindsley (Bellerofonte), Krisztina Laki (Briseide); Štefan Margita

Štefan Margita

Štefan Margita is a Slovak opera singer who has had an active international career since 1981. He began his career singing mostly roles from the lyric tenor repertoire but in recent years he has tackled a number of dramatic tenor roles...

(Diomede); Czech Philharmonic Chorus; Prague Chamber Orchestra; Zoltan Pesko (conductor).