La Silvia is an dramma pastorale per musica in three acts 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...

 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 Enrico Bissari. It was first performed on 28 August 1721 at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan on the occasion of the birthday celebrations of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth Christine

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary; and Archduchess of Austria by her marriage to Emperor Charles VI. She was renowned for her delicate beauty and also for being the mother of Empress...

, wife of Emperor Charles VI of Austria

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...

.

Background

In 1718 Vivaldi had been nominated maestro di cappella di camera, at the court of Philipp von Hessen-Darmstadt

Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt

Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt was a Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, Imperial Field marshal and Governor of Mantua.- Life :...

 in Mantua

Mantua

Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...

 for whom he composed Armida al campo d'Egitto

Armida al campo d'Egitto

Armida al campo d'Egitto is an opera in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi to a libretto by Giovanni Palazzo. It was first performed during the Carnival season of 1718 at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice...

, Teuzzone, Scanderbeg (all 1718) and then Tito Manlio

Tito Manlio

Tito Manlio is an opera in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi, to a libretto by Matteo Noris. It was written in celebration of the marriage of Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt , the governor of Mantua, which he had announced at Christmas. Vivaldi quickly composed the opera within five days...

(1719) and La Candace (1720). On his return to Venice, following performance of La verità in cimento

La verità in cimento

La verità in cimento is an opera by Antonio Vivaldi to a libretto by Giovanni Palazzi. The opera, which is Vivaldi's 13th, was premiered during the Carnival at Venice in 1720. The work is listed as RV739 in the Vivaldi catalogue....

 at the Teatro Sant'Angelo, Vivaldi, thinly disguised as "Aldiviva", became, along with Giovanni Porta

Giovanni Porta

Giovanni Porta was an Italian opera composer.One of the masters of early 18th-century opera and one of the leading Venetian musicians, Porta made his way from Rome, to Vicenza, to Verona, then London where his opera Numitore was performed in 1720 by the Royal Academy of Music , and eventually back...

, Anna Maria Strada

Anna Maria Strada

Anna Maria Strada was an Italian soprano of the 18th century. She is best remembered for her association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in whose operas Strada sang.-Career:...

 and others, one of the principal targets of the gentleman-composer Benedetto Marcello

Benedetto Marcello

Benedetto Marcello was a Venetian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.-Life:...

's satirical pamphlet Il teatro alla moda (written 1718-1719, published 1720).

Bissari's text had originally been written in 1710 as a play for Princess Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, second wife of the Bavarian elector Maximillian II Emmanuel

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Maximilian II , also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and an elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last Governor of the Spanish Netherlands and duke of Luxembourg...

. The opera was performed again in Milan in 1723 and 1724. 8 of the arias are preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale di Torino

Turin National University Library

The National University Library in Turin, Italy, is one of the country's main libraries.It was founded in 1720 as the Royal University Library by Victor Amadeus II, who unified collections from the library of the University of Turin and from the library of the Dukes of Savoy...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 28 August 1721
Silvia	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...	Margarita Gualandi
Elpino	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...	Anna Bombacciari
Tirsi	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 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...	Giovanni Battista Minelli
Nerina	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...	Anna Maria Strada Anna Maria Strada Anna Maria Strada was an Italian soprano of the 18th century. She is best remembered for her association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in whose operas Strada sang.-Career:...
Egisto	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...	Annibale Pio Fabri Annibale Pio Fabri Annibale Pio Fabri was an Italian composer and singer of the 18th century...
Faustulo	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...	Giuseppe Montanari Giuseppe Montanari Giuseppe Montanari was an Italian painter.-Biography:Montanari moved to Milan in 1906 and studied at the Brera Academy. He then moved to Varese after World War I. The influence of Ubaldo Oppi and Felice Casorati led him to simplify his volumes and endow them with greater solidity in the 1920s...

Recordings

• 2001 (reconstruction of nine surviving arias) Roberta Invernizzi
  Roberta Invernizzi
  Roberta Invernizzi is an Italian soprano. She originally studied piano and double bass before turning to singing. She specialises in early music from the baroque and classical period of music....
  
  , Gloria Banditelli, John Elwes, Philippe Cantor. Ensemble Baroque de Nice, dir. Gilbert Bezzina
  Gilbert Bezzina
  Gilbert Bezzina is a French violinist and conductor of baroque opera.Gilbert Bezzina studied violin at the Conservatory of Nice and continues to perform and record as a violinist....
  
  . Ligia. 1CD.