Il re pastore
Encyclopedia
Il re pastore is an opera
, K. 208, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
to an Italian libretto
by Metastasio
, edited by Gianbattista Varesco
. It is an opera seria
. The opera was first performed on April 23 1775
in Salzburg
, at the Palace of the Archbishop Count Hieronymus von Colloredo
.
In 1775 the opera was commissioned for a visit by the Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria
, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa, to Salzburg. Mozart spent six weeks working on the opera. It consists of two acts and runs for approximately 107 minutes.
Metastasio wrote the libretto in 1751, basing it on a work by Torquato Tasso
called Aminta
. The libretto was picked up when Mozart (just 19 at the time) and his father saw a performance of it set to music composed by Felice Giardini
– Mozart's version, however was two acts rather than Giardini's three, and has a few substantial changes. Each act lasts for around an hour in performance. The Salzburg court chaplain Varesco was largely responsibly for this editing of Metastasio's libretto.
It is often referred to not as an opera, but as a serenata, a type of dramatic cantata. The appearance of a quartet of lovers (Aminta and Elisa, Agenore and Tamiri) of somewhat dubious fidelity automatically puts a modern audience in mind of Così fan tutte
. The principal psychological theme of the opera is, however, the demands of love against the demands of Kingship, as Aminta, the Shepherd-king, tussles with his conscience, and in this Il re pastore is closer in theme to Idomeneo
than any other of Mozart's operas. Indeed, Idomeneo was the next completed opera that Mozart wrote after Il re pastore, after his six-year-long break from the stage. Furthermore, the theme of qualities for Kingship appears in another opera, La Clemenza Di Tito, his last one.
Elisa is with her lover Aminta, the shepherd. She assures him that the war between King Alessandro and Stratone, the tyrant of Sidon, will not affect their love for each other. Having deposed Stratone, Alessandro searches for the rightful heir to Sidon. He thinks that Aminta is the rightful heir. He comes to Aminta in disguise and offers him to take him to Alessandro. Aminta wants to remain a shepherd. Meantime, Agenore encounters his beloved Tamiri, daughter of Stratone. Tamiri is comforted to learn that Agenore still loves her.
Elisa gets permission from her father to marry Aminta. Agenore tells Aminta that he is the rightful heir to the throne and that his father was driven out by Stratone when he was a baby. Aminta promises to return to Elisa after claming his throne. Aminta loves Elisa but Alessandro suggests that when Aminta is hailed king, royal duties take precedence over love. Alessandro suggests that Tamiri marry Aminta in order to ascend her father's throne. Aminta disagrees.
Elisa is prevented by Agenore from seeing Aminta. He also discourages Aminta from pursuing her. Alessandro tells Aminta to dress like a king so he can be presented to his subjects. He also decides that Tamiri marry Aminta. Aminta is distraught. Agenore is upset. He breaks the news to Elisa. Tamiri does not want to marry Aminta. Agenore, too, is tormented by the planned marriage. Tamiri tells Alessandro that she and Agenore are in love. The women threw themselves in Alessandro's mercy. Elisa begs him to give her back Aminta who declares his love for Elisa ("L'amerò, sarò costante"). Realizing the potential injustice he was about to inflict, Alessandro tells Aminta to marry Elisa and Tamiri to marry Agenore. Aminta is crowned king of Sidon.
Act 2
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...
, K. 208, written 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 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 Metastasio
Metastasio
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.-Early life:...
, edited by Gianbattista Varesco
Varesco
Father Varesco was a chaplain, musician, poet and librettist to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His given name variously appears as Giambattista, Gianbattista, Giovanni Battista and Girolamo Giovanni Battista...
. It is an 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...
. The opera was first performed on April 23 1775
1775 in music
- Events :*February 23 – Première of Pierre Beaumarchais's play, The Barber of Seville, which will later provide material for more than one opera.*Wilhelm Hauser becomes organist at the monastery of Lavaldieu and the teacher of Étienne Méhul....
in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, at the Palace of the Archbishop Count Hieronymus von Colloredo
Count Hieronymus von Colloredo
Count Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Graf Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz was Prince-Bishop of Gurk from 1761 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1771 until 1803, when the Archbishopric was secularized.-Life:He was the second son of Count Rudolf Wenzel Joseph Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz , a...
.
In 1775 the opera was commissioned for a visit by the Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria
Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria
Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria was an Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, the last child of the Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. His siblings included two Holy Roman Emperors , as well as Queen Marie Antoinette of France and Queen Maria Carolina of...
, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa, to Salzburg. Mozart spent six weeks working on the opera. It consists of two acts and runs for approximately 107 minutes.
Metastasio wrote the libretto in 1751, basing it on a work by Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
called Aminta
Aminta
Aminta is a play written by Torquato Tasso in 1573, represented during a garden party at the court of Ferrara. Both the actors and the public were noble persons living at the Court, who could understand subtle allusions the poet made to that style of life, in contrast with the life of shepherds,...
. The libretto was picked up when Mozart (just 19 at the time) and his father saw a performance of it set to music composed by Felice Giardini
Felice Giardini
Felice Giardini was an Italian composer and violinist.Felice Giardini was born in Turin. When it became clear that he was a child prodigy, his father sent him to Milan. There he studied singing, harpsichord and violin but it was on the latter that he became a famous virtuoso...
– Mozart's version, however was two acts rather than Giardini's three, and has a few substantial changes. Each act lasts for around an hour in performance. The Salzburg court chaplain Varesco was largely responsibly for this editing of Metastasio's libretto.
It is often referred to not as an opera, but as a serenata, a type of dramatic cantata. The appearance of a quartet of lovers (Aminta and Elisa, Agenore and Tamiri) of somewhat dubious fidelity automatically puts a modern audience in mind of Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
. The principal psychological theme of the opera is, however, the demands of love against the demands of Kingship, as Aminta, the Shepherd-king, tussles with his conscience, and in this Il re pastore is closer in theme to Idomeneo
Idomeneo
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
than any other of Mozart's operas. Indeed, Idomeneo was the next completed opera that Mozart wrote after Il re pastore, after his six-year-long break from the stage. Furthermore, the theme of qualities for Kingship appears in another opera, La Clemenza Di Tito, his last one.
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 Cast, April 23, 1775 (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... : Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ) |
|---|---|---|
| Aminta, a shepherd, rightful heir to Sidon Sidon Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah... |
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... ) |
Tommaso Consoli |
| Elisa, Phoenicia Phoenicia Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550... n shepherdess |
soprano | Maria Anna Fesemayr Maria Anna Fesemayr Maria Anna Fesemayr was a Salzburg court singer, who sang in Mozart's Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots and created the role of Ninetta in his La finta semplice. She was the third wife of the composer and organist Anton Cajetan Adlgasser... |
| Tamiri, daughter of the deposed tyrant, Stratone | soprano | Maria Magdalena LippMaria Magdalena Lipp was married to Michael Haydn Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn was an Austrian composer of the classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn.-Life:... . She had also created the role of Barmherzigkeit (Divine Mercy) in Mozart's first musical play, Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots to which her husband had contributed the second part (now lost)./Maria Anna Braunhofer Maria Anna Braunhofer Maria Anna Braunhofer was an operatic soprano, who created several roles in operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.... |
| Agenore, Sidonian aristocrat | 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... |
Felix Hofstätter |
| Alessandro, King of Macedonia | tenor | Franz Anton Spitzeder Franz Anton Spitzeder Franz Anton Spitzeder was a German tenor and keyboard teacher.Spitzeder was born in Traunstein and educated in Salzburg, where in 1759 he found employment as a court singer. He sang the part of Der Christgeist in the premiere of Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots and created the role of Don... |
Synopsis
The king of Macedonia, Alessandro, has overthrown Stratone, the tyrant of Sidon, but aims to find the rightful king.Act 1
In a meadow. The city of Sidon can be seen from a distance.Elisa is with her lover Aminta, the shepherd. She assures him that the war between King Alessandro and Stratone, the tyrant of Sidon, will not affect their love for each other. Having deposed Stratone, Alessandro searches for the rightful heir to Sidon. He thinks that Aminta is the rightful heir. He comes to Aminta in disguise and offers him to take him to Alessandro. Aminta wants to remain a shepherd. Meantime, Agenore encounters his beloved Tamiri, daughter of Stratone. Tamiri is comforted to learn that Agenore still loves her.
Elisa gets permission from her father to marry Aminta. Agenore tells Aminta that he is the rightful heir to the throne and that his father was driven out by Stratone when he was a baby. Aminta promises to return to Elisa after claming his throne. Aminta loves Elisa but Alessandro suggests that when Aminta is hailed king, royal duties take precedence over love. Alessandro suggests that Tamiri marry Aminta in order to ascend her father's throne. Aminta disagrees.
Act 2
Macedonian Camp.Elisa is prevented by Agenore from seeing Aminta. He also discourages Aminta from pursuing her. Alessandro tells Aminta to dress like a king so he can be presented to his subjects. He also decides that Tamiri marry Aminta. Aminta is distraught. Agenore is upset. He breaks the news to Elisa. Tamiri does not want to marry Aminta. Agenore, too, is tormented by the planned marriage. Tamiri tells Alessandro that she and Agenore are in love. The women threw themselves in Alessandro's mercy. Elisa begs him to give her back Aminta who declares his love for Elisa ("L'amerò, sarò costante"). Realizing the potential injustice he was about to inflict, Alessandro tells Aminta to marry Elisa and Tamiri to marry Agenore. Aminta is crowned king of Sidon.
Noted arias
Act 1- "Intendo, amico rio" – Aminta
- "Alla selva, al prato" – Elisa
- "Aer tranquillo e di sereni" – Aminta
- "Si spande al sole in faccia" – Alessandro
- "Per me rispondete" – Agenore
- "Di tante sue procelle" – Tamiri
Act 2
- "Barbaro! oh Dio mi vedi" – Elisa
- "Se vincendo vi rendo felici" – Alessandro
- "L'amerò, sarò costante" – Aminta
- "Se tu di me fai dono" – Tamiri
- "Sol può dir come si trova" – Agenore
- "Voi che fausti ognor donati" – Alessandro
Recordings
- 1967 – Reri GristReri GristReri Grist is an American coloratura soprano, one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera.-Biography:...
(Aminta), Lucia PoppLucia PoppLucia Popp was a notable Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette soprano, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. Her career included performances at Vienna State Opera, the...
(Elisa), Arlene SaundersArlene SaundersArlene Saunders is an American spinto soprano opera singer. After making her operatic debut as Rosalinde von Eisenstein, in Die Fledermaus, with the National Opera Company in 1958, she made her first appearance with the New York City Opera in 1961, as Giorgetta in Il tabarro...
(Tamiri), Nicola MontiNicola MontiNicola Monti is an Italian opera singer, one of the leading tenori di grazia of the 1950s.Born in Milan, Italy, Monti studied voice from an early age, and made his debut in concert in Florence in 1941, and that same year sang his first major role, the Duke of Mantua, in Cagliari...
(Agerone), Luigi AlvaLuigi AlvaLuis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva is a Peruvian operatic tenor, active in the third quarter of the 20th century. He was admired for his purity of tone, the elegance of his phrasing and the clarity of his diction...
(Alessandro) – The Orchestra of Naples, Denis VaughanDenis VaughanDenis Vaughan is an orchestral conductor most famous for his role as the driving force behind the creation of the United Kingdom's National Lottery. He is a campaigner for wider access to arts and culture for young people, and promotes the health benefits of music, the arts and sport...
– 2 CDs RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor... - 2001 – Johannetta Zomer (Aminta), Francine van der Heijden (Elisa), Claudia Patacca (Tamiri), Marcel Reijans (Agerone), Alexei Grigoriev (Alessandro) – Musica ad Rhenum, Jed Wentz – 2 CDs Brilliant ClassicsBrilliant ClassicsBrilliant Classics is a Dutch classical music record label, based in Leeuwarden, formerly part of Foreign Media Music BV, but since March 2011 acquired by Triacta. The company is notable for its ultra-budget market approach turning around decline in classical records sales with "Complete Mozart...
External links
- Il rè pastore, introduction and synopsis at The Mozart Project
- Complete recording at Mozart Archiv
- "L'amerò, sarò costante" at Mozart Archiv, audio recording by Lucia PoppLucia PoppLucia Popp was a notable Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette soprano, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. Her career included performances at Vienna State Opera, the...
- "Il Re pastore": Libretto