Ottone in villa
Encyclopedia
Ottone in villa is an opera
in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi
to an Italian libretto
by Domenico Lalli (the pseudonym of Sebastiano Biancardi). It was Vivaldi's first opera and premiered on 17 May 1713 at the Teatro delle Grazie in Vicenza
. Lalli's pastoral drama is set in ancient Rome
and was a condensed adaptation of Francesco Maria Piccioli's satirical libretto for Carlo Pallavicino
's opera Messalina (1679). However, Lalli changed several of the characters in Piccioli's libretto. Messalina became an invented character, Cleonilla. Emperior Claudius
became another Roman Emperor, Otho
(Ottone), who had already appeared as a protagonist in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea
(1642) and in Handel
's Agrippina
(1709).
Ottone
is in love with Cleonilla, who can't resist flirting with two young Romans, Ostilio and Caio. Ostilio is in reality a woman, Tullia, who disguised herself because she's in love with Caio. She plans to kill Cleonilla out of jealousy, but she first tries to dissuade her from her relation with Caio. Caio sees the meeting and misinterprets it as a romantic encounter. He warns Ottone, who commands him to kill Ostilio. Before he can execute the order, Ostilio reveals himself to be Tullia. Cleonilla claims to have always known it, to conciliate Ottone. He believes her and the opera closes with the marriage of Tullia and Caio.
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 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 Domenico Lalli (the pseudonym of Sebastiano Biancardi). It was Vivaldi's first opera and premiered on 17 May 1713 at the Teatro delle Grazie in Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
. Lalli's pastoral drama is set in ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and was a condensed adaptation of Francesco Maria Piccioli's satirical libretto for Carlo Pallavicino
Carlo Pallavicino
Carlo Pallavicino was an Italian composer.Pallavicino was born at Salò, Italy. From 1666 to 1673, he worked at the Dresden court, from 1674 to 1685, at the Ospedale degli Incurabili in Venice and further in Dresden...
's opera Messalina (1679). However, Lalli changed several of the characters in Piccioli's libretto. Messalina became an invented character, Cleonilla. Emperior Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
became another Roman Emperor, Otho
Otho
Otho , was Roman Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors.- Birth and lineage :...
(Ottone), who had already appeared as a protagonist in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
(1642) and in Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's Agrippina
Agrippina (opera)
Agrippina is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, from a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of...
(1709).
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 17 May 1713 |
|---|---|---|
| Cleonilla | 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 Giusti "La Romanina" |
| Ottone | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Diana Vico |
| Caio Silio | soprano 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... |
Bartolomeo Bartoli |
| Decio | 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 Mossi |
| Tullia | soprano | Margherita Fazzoli |
Synopsis
The Roman EmperorRoman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Ottone
Otho
Otho , was Roman Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors.- Birth and lineage :...
is in love with Cleonilla, who can't resist flirting with two young Romans, Ostilio and Caio. Ostilio is in reality a woman, Tullia, who disguised herself because she's in love with Caio. She plans to kill Cleonilla out of jealousy, but she first tries to dissuade her from her relation with Caio. Caio sees the meeting and misinterprets it as a romantic encounter. He warns Ottone, who commands him to kill Ostilio. Before he can execute the order, Ostilio reveals himself to be Tullia. Cleonilla claims to have always known it, to conciliate Ottone. He believes her and the opera closes with the marriage of Tullia and Caio.
Recordings
- Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Patrizia Pace (Cleonilla, soprano), Anna Maria Ferrante (Tullia, soprano), Aris ChristofellisAris ChristofellisAris Christofellis is a sopranist who was born in Athens on 5 February 1960. After studying piano in Athens and Paris, he decided to concentrate on developing his singing voice.He made his debut in Bordeaux in 1984...
(Caio, male soprano), Jean Nirouët (Ottone, countertenorCountertenorA countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
), Luigi Petroni (Decio, tenor); Ensemble Seicentonovecento; Flavio Colusso (conductor). Recorded September 1993. Label: Bongiovanni 10016/18. - Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Susan GrittonSusan GrittonSusan Gritton is an English soprano.Susan Gritton was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of London, where she studied Botany....
(Cleonilla, soprano), Monica GroopMonica GroopMonica Groop is a Finnish operatic mezzo-soprano. After graduating from the Sibelius Academy, she joined the Finnish National Opera in 1986 where she remains a member...
(Ottone, mezzosoprano), Nancy ArgentaNancy ArgentaNancy Maureen Argenta is a Canadian soprano singer, best known for performing music from the pre-classical era. She has won international acclaim, and is considered by many as the leading Handel soprano of her time.She was born in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada...
(Caio Silio, soprano), Mark Padmore (Decio, tenor), Sophie Daneman (Tullia, soprano); Collegium Musicum 90; Richard HickoxRichard HickoxRichard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
(conductor). Performing Edition (1997) by Eric Cross. Label: Chandos ChaconneChandos RecordsChandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
0614. - Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Maria Laura Martorana (Cleonilla, soprano), Tuva Semmingsen (Ottone, mezzosoprano), Florin Cezar Ouatu (Caio Silio, countertenor), Luca Dordolo (Decio, tenor), Marina Bartoli (Tullia, soprano); L'Arte dell'Arco; Federico Guglielmo (conductor). Performing edition by Federico Guglielmo (2008 revision) from the manuscript by Vittorio Bolcato. Label: 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...
94105.
Sources
- Casaglia, Gherardo, "17 Maggio 1713, Mercoledì", Almanacco Amadeus, Accessed 7 May 2009.
- Folena, Gianfranco and Arnaldi, Girolamo, Storia della cultura veneta, Vol. 5, pt. 1, N. Pozza, 1976.
- Ketterer, Robert C., Ancient Rome in Early Opera, University of Illinois Press, 2008. ISBN 0252033787
- Strohm, Reinhard, Essays on Handel and Italian opera, Cambridge University Press ArchiveCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1985. ISBN 0521264286 - Vasta, Stephen Francis, "Records: Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa", Opera News, November 1998. Accessed 7 May 2009.