Il gran Tamerlano 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...

 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...

. Its libretto was written by Agostino Piovene. All of Mysliveček's operas are of the serious type in Italian referred to as 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...

. Generally this style favored high vocal ranges, both for male and female singers, but for the character of Bajazette, emperor of the Turks, the composer created the only substantial role for a bass

Bass (voice type)

A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...

 singer that appears in any of his operas.

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the Regio-Ducal Teatro 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 26 December 1771 (that is, the first day of the operatic carnival season of 1772). It was very successful when it appeared, indeed one of the most popular operas performed in Milan in its day. A number of vocal pieces from the opera were frequently copied in late eighteenth-century vocal collections, for example the magnificent duet "Di quel amabil ciglio" and the aria "Il caro e solo oggetto." Il gran Tamerlano was revived in Pavia

Pavia

Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

 in 1776, but not performed in modern times until a production was mounted in Brno

Brno

Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...

 in the former Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 in 1967 (an abbreviated version was given in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 in 1977). The musicologist Daniel E. Freeman has recently demonstrated the remarkable resemblance of the opening of the overture to Il gran Tamerlano and the opening of Mozart's Symphony No. 9, K. 73. Mysliveček visited the Mozarts frequently during all three of their trips to Italy in the early 1770s, and it is likely that Mozart knew the overture from his contacts with Mysliveček at that time.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 26 December 1771, Regio-Ducal Teatro, Milan
Tamerlano, Emperor of the Tartars	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...	Giuseppe Millico Giuseppe Millico Giuseppe Millico was an Italian soprano castrato, composer, and music teacher of the 18th century who is best remembered for his performances in the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck....
Bajazette, Emperor of the Turks	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Giovanni Battista Zonca
Asteria, daughter of Bajazette	soprano	Antonia Maria Girelli Aguilar
Andronico, a Greek prince	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	Giuseppe Cicognani
Irene, Princess of Trabisonda	soprano	Anna Boselli
Idaspe, one of Tamerlano's generals	alto (in a breeches role Breeches role A breeches role is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing .In opera it also refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer... )	Rosa Polidora

Synopsis

Eighteenth-century Italian operas in serious style are almost always set in a distant or legendary past and are built around historical, pseudo-historical, or mythological characters. The story of Il gran Tamerlano is based on events surrounding the Battle of Ankara

Battle of Ankara

The Battle of Ankara or Battle of Angora, fought on July 20, 1402, took place at the field of Çubuk between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I and the Turko-Mongol forces of Timur, ruler of the Timurid Empire. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to a period of crisis for...

 of 1402, fought between the forces of the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 sultan

Sultan

Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...

 Bayezid I

Bayezid I

Bayezid I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun.-Biography:Bayezid was born in Edirne and spent his youth in Bursa, where he received a high-level education...

 and the Turco-Mongol

Turco-Mongol

Turko-Mongol is a modern designation for various nomads who were subjects of the Mongol Empire. Being progressively Turkicized in terms of language and identity following the Mongol conquests, they derived their ethnic and cultural origins from steppes of Central Asia...

 ruler Timur

Timur

Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...

, who is known in English-speaking countries as Tamerlane. The result was an extraordinary military victory for Timur, who actually succeeded in capturing the Ottoman sultan. This is what made the story so attractive for treatment as an opera libretto in eighteenth-century, since stories of rulers who were captured in battle were common. In order to provide the obligatory element of a love story, the librettist Piovene concocted the character of Asteria, a daughter of the Ottoman sultan who is captured along with him and engages in love intrigues with members of Tamerlane's court. A setting in the fifteenth-century would have been rather late for an opera libretto of Mysliveček's day, but the venue in central Asia, rather than in Europe, is what preserves the sense of a serious opera in Italian having to take place in a distant location either chronologically or geographically.

Act I

After capturing the Ottoman sultan Bajazette and his daughter Asteria, Tamerlano falls in love with Asteria, who has no interest in him. Asteria is rather love with the Greek commander Andronico. Tamerlano has the idea of offering Andronico his own kingdom and the hand of his current betrothed, Irene, if he can persuade Bajazette to give his permission to allow him to marry his daughter Asteria. For her part, Irene is shocked at Tamerlano's behavior, and vows to attempt to regain his love. Tamerlano, completely infatuated with Asteria, pressures Baiazette more and more to give his permission to marry Asteria, to the point where he is threatened with death. Asteria has the idea of pretending to be in love with Tamerlano in order to save her father's life.

Act II

Bajazette is determined not to see his daughter married to Tamerlano, no matter what the penalty. Tamerlano threatens Bajazette with death again, and Asteria does agree to him to spare her father. Asteria intends to kill Tamerlano to prevent the wedding. Tamerlano learns of this and seeks revenge.

Act III

Tamerlano seeks to humiliate Asteria by forcing her to work as a maid in his work as Baiazette watches her. Asteria tries to poison Tamerlano when she serves him a glass, but Irene, earlier disguised, saves his life. Tamerlano reflects on the obvious love between Asteria and Adronico, and permits them to marry. He decides to take Irene back as his betrothed. Bajezette, weary of life and humiliated by his defeat at the Battle of Ankara, poisons himself with the same poison intended for Tamerlano.

Vocal Set Pieces

Act I, scene 1 - Aria of Bajazette, "Superbo di mia sorte"

Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Tamerlano, "Vanne la sorte mia"

Act I, scene 5 - Aria of Andronico, "Chi non ode i miei sospiri"

Act I, scene 7 - Aria of Tamerlano, "Che per voi sospiro"

Act I, scene 10 - Aria of Asteria, "Sento nel alma mia"

Act I, scene 13 - Aria of Irene, "Tradito ed appresso"

Act I, scene 14 - Chorus, "Già ti cede il mondo intero"

Act I, scene 15 - Duet of Tamerlano and Asteria, "Di quel amabil ciglio"

Act II, scene 2 - Aria of Bajazette, "In mezzo alle tempeste"

Act II, scene 4 - Aria of Andronico, "Se ti mirre se quest'alma"

Act II, scene 5 - Aria of Bajazette, "Sazia il tuo fiero orgoglio"

Act II, scene 6 - Aria of Asteria, "Cadrò, sì cada, io stessa"

Act II, scene 8 - Aria of Irene, "Quell'empio cor istabile"

Act II, scene 9 - Aria of Tamerlano, "Il caro e solo oggetto"

Act II, scene 10 - Aria of Idaspe, "Fra il mar turbato, e nero"

Act II, scene 11 - Aria of Asteria, "Nacqui in seno alla sventura"

Act II, scene 12 - Chorus, "Lieti sposi, ah venga Imene"

Act II, scene 13 - Quartet for Tamerlano, Bajazette, Asteria, and Andronico, "Smanio, veneggio e fremo"


Act III, scene 2 - Aria of Bajazette, "Pria di salir"

Act III, scene 4 - Aria of Tamerlano, "M'offende il nemico"

Act III, scene 7 - Aria of Asteria, "Non mi vedo"

Act III, scene 9 - Chorus, "Doppo il nembo e la procella"

Recording

Three vocal excerpts drawn from the role of Baiazette are included in the collection Karel Berman: Operatic Recital, Czech Radio CR04372 (2009), Karel Berman

Karel Berman

Karel Berman was a Jewish Czech opera singer, composer and opera director.- Life :...

, bass