Le feste d'Apollo
Encyclopedia
Le feste d'Apollo is an operatic work
by Christoph Willibald von Gluck, first performed at the Teatrino della Corte, Parma
, Italy, on 24 August 1769 for the wedding celebrations of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma
and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria.
Styled a festa teatrale, Le feste d'Apollo consists of a prologue and three self-contained acts on the model of French opéra-ballet
(the court of Parma was passionately interested in French culture). Gluck knew the Archduchess Maria Amalia well as she had sung in two of his operas, Il Parnaso confuso and La corona
, in Vienna. The composer recycled a lot of music from his earlier operas in the score of Le feste. In fact, the whole of the third act, Orfeo, is a shorter reworking of his most famous piece, Orfeo ed Euridice
(1762). The overture to the prologue is taken from Telemaco
. Gluck would reuse some of the choruses in two of the operas he later wrote for Paris, Iphigénie en Aulide
and Iphigénie en Tauride
.
Gluck travelled to Parma to supervise rehearsals from February to April 1769. The wedding was delayed by the death of Pope Clement XIII
and did not take place until 19 July. The celebrations, including the staging of Le feste, followed in August.
is by Carlo Gastone della Torre di Rezzonico (1742-1796). A group of young Athenian men and women, led by Anfrisio and Arcinia, gather to celebrate the festival of Apollo
. The priest of Apollo reveals the god has sent him a vision which promises a flourishing future for the Duke of Parma and his bride.
in Ovid
's Metamorphoses. In Pagnini's version, Baucis and Philemon are not an old married couple but a pair of young lovers. The king of the gods, Jupiter, visits the world of mortals disguised as a traveller from Crete
, intending to punish mankind for its wickedness. However, when he visits the countryside of Phrygia
, Baucis and Philemon warmly welcome him to their cottages. Jupiter reveals his true identity and officiates at the wedding of the couple. He tells them they will live together as priests in his temple and when they die they will become demi-gods and protectors of the region.
taken from Virgil
's Georgics
, Book Four. Aristaeus, the son of the nymph Cyrene, had been in love with Eurydice
, the wife of Orpheus
, but as he pursued her she had trodden on a snake and died from its venomous bite. To punish Aristaeus, the wood nymphs
kill his bees and make him fall in love with the nymph Cydippe, who rejects his advances on the orders of Aristaeus's mother. Aristaeus visits Cyrene in despair and begs for her help. She tells him his sufferings are a result of what he has done to Orpheus and Eurydice and tells him to sacrifice to their shades and the wood nymphs. Aristaeus does so and the gods are appeased. New swarms of bees issue from the carcasses of bulls Aristaeus has slain and Cyrene gives Cydippe to Aristaeus in marriage.
This act includes a bravura aria which Gluck had originally composed for Il Parnaso confuso. This aria was later incorporated into Act 1 of Orphée et Euridice, the 1774 Paris revision of Orfeo ed Euridice, as "L'espoir renaît dans mon âme".
, which had first been performed in Vienna in 1762, with a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
.
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...
by Christoph Willibald von Gluck, first performed at the Teatrino della Corte, Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, Italy, on 24 August 1769 for the wedding celebrations of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma
Ferdinand, Duke of Parma
Ferdinand Maria Philip Louis Sebastian Francis James of Parma was Duke of Parma from 1765 to 1802. He was the second child and only son of Philip, Duke of Parma and Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France, eldest daughter of Louis XV of France and Maria Leszczyńska...
and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria.
Styled a festa teatrale, Le feste d'Apollo consists of a prologue and three self-contained acts on the model of French opéra-ballet
Opéra-ballet
Opéra-ballet was a popular genre of French Baroque opera, "that grew out of the ballets à entrées of the early seventeeth century". It differed from the more elevated tragédie en musique as practised by Jean-Baptiste Lully in several ways...
(the court of Parma was passionately interested in French culture). Gluck knew the Archduchess Maria Amalia well as she had sung in two of his operas, Il Parnaso confuso and La corona
La Corona
La Corona is an ancient Maya city in Guatemala's Petén department that was discovered in 1996 and later revealed to be the long-sought "Site Q", a prominent, undiscovered Maya city...
, in Vienna. The composer recycled a lot of music from his earlier operas in the score of Le feste. In fact, the whole of the third act, Orfeo, is a shorter reworking of his most famous piece, Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
(1762). The overture to the prologue is taken from Telemaco
Telemaco
Telemaco, ossia L'isola di Circe is an operatic dramma per musica in two acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck...
. Gluck would reuse some of the choruses in two of the operas he later wrote for Paris, Iphigénie en Aulide
Iphigénie en Aulide
Iphigénie en Aulide is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by Leblanc du Roullet and was based on Jean Racine's tragedy Iphigénie...
and Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard....
.
Gluck travelled to Parma to supervise rehearsals from February to April 1769. The wedding was delayed by the death of Pope Clement XIII
Pope Clement XIII
Pope Clement XIII , born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was Pope from 16 July 1758 to 2 February 1769....
and did not take place until 19 July. The celebrations, including the staging of Le feste, followed in August.
Prologue
The Italian librettoLibretto
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...
is by Carlo Gastone della Torre di Rezzonico (1742-1796). A group of young Athenian men and women, led by Anfrisio and Arcinia, gather to celebrate the festival of Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
. The priest of Apollo reveals the god has sent him a vision which promises a flourishing future for the Duke of Parma and his bride.
| Cast | Voice type | Conductor: Christoph Willibald von Gluck |
|---|---|---|
| Sacerdote d'Apollo (Priest of Apollo) | 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... |
Gaetano Bernardino Ottani |
| Anfrisio | 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.... , "il Moscovita" |
| Arcinia | 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... |
Lucrezia Agujari Lucrezia Agujari Lucrezia Aguiari was an Italian coloratura soprano. She possessed an unusually agile voice with a large vocal range that spanned slightly more than three and a half octaves; faculties that enabled her to assail the most difficult passage work... , "la Bastardella" |
| Chorus: Young Athenian men and women | ||
Bauci e Filemone
The libretto, by Giuseppe Maria Pagnini (1737–1814), is based on the myth of Baucis and PhilemonBaucis and Philemon
In Ovid's moralizing fable , which stands on the periphery of Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Baucis and Philemon were an old married couple in the region of Tyana, which Ovid places in Phrygia, and the only ones in their town to welcome disguised gods Zeus and Hermes , thus embodying the...
in Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
's Metamorphoses. In Pagnini's version, Baucis and Philemon are not an old married couple but a pair of young lovers. The king of the gods, Jupiter, visits the world of mortals disguised as a traveller from Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, intending to punish mankind for its wickedness. However, when he visits the countryside of Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
, Baucis and Philemon warmly welcome him to their cottages. Jupiter reveals his true identity and officiates at the wedding of the couple. He tells them they will live together as priests in his temple and when they die they will become demi-gods and protectors of the region.
| Cast | Voice type | Conductor: Christoph Willibald von Gluck |
|---|---|---|
| Bauci (Baucis) | soprano | Lucrezia Agujari |
| Filemone (Philemon) | castrato | Vincenzo Caselli |
| Giove (Jupiter) | tenor | Gaetano Bernardino Ottani |
| Una pastorella (A shepherdess) | ||
| Chorus: Shepherds and shepherdesses | ||
Aristeo
The libretto, by Giuseppe Pezzana (1735–1802), is loosely based on the myth of AristaeusAristaeus
A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...
taken from Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
's Georgics
Georgics
The Georgics is a poem in four books, likely published in 29 BC. It is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil, following his Eclogues and preceding the Aeneid. It is a poem that draws on many prior sources and influenced many later authors from antiquity to the present...
, Book Four. Aristaeus, the son of the nymph Cyrene, had been in love with Eurydice
Eurydice
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
, the wife of Orpheus
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
, but as he pursued her she had trodden on a snake and died from its venomous bite. To punish Aristaeus, the wood nymphs
Dryad
Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...
kill his bees and make him fall in love with the nymph Cydippe, who rejects his advances on the orders of Aristaeus's mother. Aristaeus visits Cyrene in despair and begs for her help. She tells him his sufferings are a result of what he has done to Orpheus and Eurydice and tells him to sacrifice to their shades and the wood nymphs. Aristaeus does so and the gods are appeased. New swarms of bees issue from the carcasses of bulls Aristaeus has slain and Cyrene gives Cydippe to Aristaeus in marriage.
This act includes a bravura aria which Gluck had originally composed for Il Parnaso confuso. This aria was later incorporated into Act 1 of Orphée et Euridice, the 1774 Paris revision of Orfeo ed Euridice, as "L'espoir renaît dans mon âme".
| Cast | Voice type | Conductor: Christoph Willibald von Gluck |
|---|---|---|
| Aristeo (Aristaeus) | castrato | Vincenzo Caselli |
| Ati | tenor | Gaetano Bernardino Ottani |
| Cirene (Cyrene) | soprano | Antonia Maria Girelli-Aguilar |
| Cidippe (Cydippe) | soprano | Felicita Suardi |
| Silvia, a wood nymph | ||
| Chorus: Wood nymphs, Silvia's followers; nymphs of the River Peneus; inhabitants of Tempe Vale of Tempe The Vale of Tempe is a gorge in northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south. The valley is 10 kilometers long and as narrow as 25 meters in places, with cliffs nearly 500 meters high, and through it flows the Pineios River on its way to the Aegean Sea... |
||
Orfeo
This is a reworking of Orfeo ed EuridiceOrfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
, which had first been performed in Vienna in 1762, with a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
Ranieri de' Calzabigi
Ranieri de' Calzabigi was an Italian poet and librettist, most famous for his collaboration with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on his "reform" operas....
.
| Cast | Voice type | Conductor: Christoph Willibald von Gluck |
|---|---|---|
| Orfeo (Orpheus Orpheus Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who... ) |
castrato | Giuseppe Millico |
| Euridice (Eurydice Eurydice Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,... ) |
soprano | Antonia Maria Girelli-Aguilar |
| Amore (Cupid Cupid In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros... ) |
soprano | Felicita Suardi |
Recording
- Christophe RoussetChristophe RoussetChristophe Rousset is a French harpsichordist and conductor, specializing in the performance of baroque music on period instruments.-Biography:...
and his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques recorded two of the acts (Aristeo and Filemone e Bauci) under the title Philémon et Baucis (Ambroisie, 2006)
Sources
- Booklet notes to the Rousset recording
- Fuller version of the booklet notes by Emmanuelle and Jérôme Pesqué (in French)
- Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993) p. 380