Virginia (Mercadante)
Encyclopedia
Virginia is an opera
, a tragedia lirica, in three acts by composer
Saverio Mercadante
. The Italian
libretto
by Salvadore Cammarano is based on Vittorio Alfieri
's tragedy of the same name. Alfieri's play was in turn taken from a story in Livy
's Ab Urbe condita
. Although initially written for performance in 1850 at the Teatro di San Carlo
in Naples
, the subject matter of Mercadante's opera was objected to by the Bourbon government censors and performance was banned outright. That decision was widely ridiculed, not just in Italy
, but throughout Europe
. After the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
in 1861, the ban on the opera no longer existed. The work finally had its premiere on 7 April 1866 at the Teatro di San Carlo. Although not the last opera composed by Mercadante, it was the last of his operas to reach the stage. Virginia has been rarely performed since its premiere, but a recent 2009 recording of the work was released on the Opera Rara
label.
in 1839, but the idea was rejected. After the triumphant success of his 1846 opera Orazi e Curiazi
in Naples, Mercadante was invited to tour the Austrian territories of Venice
, Triest, and Milan
conducting performances of his own works. He left Naples to begin the tour in August 1847, and, after a success in Milan, was asked by La Scala
to compose a new work, La schiava saracena ("The Saracen slave"). That opera was supposed to premiere in January 1848, but a major revolutionary disturbance beginning on the 5th of that month postponed the opera's premiere and cut short Mercadante's tour.
Mercadante returned to Naples in March 1848 in the aftermath of revolutionary activity in that city, Salerno
, and the Cilento region which had forced Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
to grant a constitution patterned on the French Charter of 1830 on January 29, 1848. A dispute, however, arose as to the nature of the oath which should be taken by the members of the chamber of deputies. As an agreement could not be reached and the King refused to compromise, riots continued in the streets. Eventually, the King ordered the army to break them up and dissolved the national parliament on March 13, 1849. Although the constitution was never formally abrogated, the King returned to reigning as an absolute monarch.
Deploring the pattern of events in his country, Mercadante selected Alfieri's Virginia as a means of expressing his criticism of the constitution's suppression. Alfieri's story, set in Ancient Rome
, tells the tale of a plebeian revolt, spurred on by the tragic suicide
of the title heroine, which leads to the founding of the Roman Republic
tribune
s and the Plebeian Council
. Mercadante asked Cammarano, with whom he frequently collaborated, to write the opera's libretto. Cammarano obliged, giving Mercadante a finished libretto in late 1849. Mercadante began composing the opera in December 1849, completing it in March 1850.
Virginia was scheduled to première at the Teatro di San Carlo in March 1850. However, King Ferdinand II got word of the production and issued a ban on the opera's performance, even though Cammarano’s libretto carefully avoided any possible negative political implications. The censorship of the opera drew wide scorn for Ferdinand throughout Europe. In an attempt to appease the outcry, the Italian state offered a compromise, set the opera in Egypt and not Italy. Mercadante refused to comply. In the place of Virginia, the premiere of Mercadante's Medea occurred in Naples on 1 March 1851.
In 1852, most likely out of an attempt at improving the state's public image, Ferdinand appointed Mercadante as inspector of the royal military bands, a post which led to the commissioning of several compositions for these musical groups (Fantasia sull’inno russo; Fantasia sull’inno borbonico; etc.) However, Ferdinand never lifted the ban on the opera, and neither did his successor Francis II
.
In 1861 the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
was conquered by the Expedition of the Thousand
under Giuseppe Garibaldi
. Garibaldi served the Kingdom of Sardinia
which was in the process of Italian unification
. While members of the deposed Royal House survived, they no longer carried any power, freeing Mercadante to present his opera. The work was finally premiered in Naples on 7 April 1866. The premiere night performance of the work proved to be problematic, but the second performance of the opera was triumphantly received.
(1872), Turin
(1877) and again in Naples (1901), but otherwise the opera remained largely ignored.
After a 75-year absence, Virginia was revived for its United Kingdom
premiere on November 27, 1976 in Whitla Hall at the Queen's University Festival in Belfast
, Northern Ireland
. The notable cast included Janet Price
as Virginia, Christian du Plessis
as Virginio, Bonaventura Bottone
as Appio, Maurice Arthur as Icilio, and the Chorus of the Northern Ireland Opera Trust. James Judd
conducted the Ulster Orchestra
for the performance. A pirate recording of that performance was made by MRF Records, copies of which are part of the collections of a number of libraries, including the Chicago Public Library
.
On the heels of the UK premiere was a scheduled American premiere of the work by the Opera Orchestra of New York
. Montserrat Caballé
began to prepare the title role in 1977 for the anticipated premiere at Carnegie Hall
in New York City
on March 29, 1978. However, Caballé became ill just prior to the performance, and the production was cancelled, never to be rescheduled. Since the 1976 UK production, Virginia was not revived until 2010 when it was mounted by the Wexford Festival Opera
. In 2009 Opera Rara
released the first commercial recording of the work.
Virginia, a plebeian, is the virgin daughter of Virginio, a Roman soldier. She and Icilio, a patrician, are in love and wish to marry. However Appio Claudio has declared that patricians and plebs can not marry one another, a fact which makes their marriage impossible. At the same time Appio notices Virginia's beauty, and desiring her, attempts to force himself on her. Iclio intervenes, and while saving Virginia, is killed by Appio. Virginio comes to her aid, reminding Appio of Virginia's protection under Roman law
as the daughter of a Roman citizen. Thwarted, Appio plots to get Virginia through legal trickery, claiming that she is not Virginio's daughter but in fact a slave
belonging to his associate Marco. The case is brought before a public tribunal and it appears that Appio will have his way. Rather than be forced to be with Appio, Virginia stabs herself to death. Her act of tragic bravery inspires a massive insurrection of pleblians against Appio and the patrician regime.
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...
, a tragedia lirica, in three acts by composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Saverio Mercadante
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of...
. The Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
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 Salvadore Cammarano is based on Vittorio Alfieri
Vittorio Alfieri
Count Vittorio Alfieri was an Italian dramatist, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy."-Early life:Alfieri was born at Asti in Piedmont....
's tragedy of the same name. Alfieri's play was in turn taken from a story in Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
's Ab Urbe condita
Ab urbe condita
Ab urbe condita is Latin for "from the founding of the City ", traditionally set in 753 BC. AUC is a year-numbering system used by some ancient Roman historians to identify particular Roman years...
. Although initially written for performance in 1850 at the Teatro di San Carlo
Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...
in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, the subject matter of Mercadante's opera was objected to by the Bourbon government censors and performance was banned outright. That decision was widely ridiculed, not just in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, but throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. After the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...
in 1861, the ban on the opera no longer existed. The work finally had its premiere on 7 April 1866 at the Teatro di San Carlo. Although not the last opera composed by Mercadante, it was the last of his operas to reach the stage. Virginia has been rarely performed since its premiere, but a recent 2009 recording of the work was released on the Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
label.
Composition history
Mercadante first suggested Virginia as the subject of an opera to La FeniceLa Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
in 1839, but the idea was rejected. After the triumphant success of his 1846 opera Orazi e Curiazi
Orazi e Curiazi
Orazi e Curiazi is an opera by the Italian composer Saverio Mercadante. It takes the form of a tragedia lirica in three acts. The libretto, by Salvadore Cammarano is based on the Roman legend of the fight between the Horatii and the Curiatii...
in Naples, Mercadante was invited to tour the Austrian territories of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Triest, and 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 ,...
conducting performances of his own works. He left Naples to begin the tour in August 1847, and, after a success in Milan, was asked by La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
to compose a new work, La schiava saracena ("The Saracen slave"). That opera was supposed to premiere in January 1848, but a major revolutionary disturbance beginning on the 5th of that month postponed the opera's premiere and cut short Mercadante's tour.
Mercadante returned to Naples in March 1848 in the aftermath of revolutionary activity in that city, Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, and the Cilento region which had forced Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death.-Family:Ferdinand was born in Palermo, the son of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife and first cousin Maria Isabella of Spain.His paternal grandparents were King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Marie...
to grant a constitution patterned on the French Charter of 1830 on January 29, 1848. A dispute, however, arose as to the nature of the oath which should be taken by the members of the chamber of deputies. As an agreement could not be reached and the King refused to compromise, riots continued in the streets. Eventually, the King ordered the army to break them up and dissolved the national parliament on March 13, 1849. Although the constitution was never formally abrogated, the King returned to reigning as an absolute monarch.
Deploring the pattern of events in his country, Mercadante selected Alfieri's Virginia as a means of expressing his criticism of the constitution's suppression. Alfieri's story, 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....
, tells the tale of a plebeian revolt, spurred on by the tragic suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
of the title heroine, which leads to the founding of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
tribune
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
s and the Plebeian Council
Plebeian Council
The Concilium Plebis — known in English as the Plebeian Council or People's Assembly — was the principal popular assembly of the ancient Roman Republic. It functioned as a legislative assembly, through which the plebeians could pass laws, elect magistrates, and try judicial cases. The Plebeian...
. Mercadante asked Cammarano, with whom he frequently collaborated, to write the opera's libretto. Cammarano obliged, giving Mercadante a finished libretto in late 1849. Mercadante began composing the opera in December 1849, completing it in March 1850.
Virginia was scheduled to première at the Teatro di San Carlo in March 1850. However, King Ferdinand II got word of the production and issued a ban on the opera's performance, even though Cammarano’s libretto carefully avoided any possible negative political implications. The censorship of the opera drew wide scorn for Ferdinand throughout Europe. In an attempt to appease the outcry, the Italian state offered a compromise, set the opera in Egypt and not Italy. Mercadante refused to comply. In the place of Virginia, the premiere of Mercadante's Medea occurred in Naples on 1 March 1851.
In 1852, most likely out of an attempt at improving the state's public image, Ferdinand appointed Mercadante as inspector of the royal military bands, a post which led to the commissioning of several compositions for these musical groups (Fantasia sull’inno russo; Fantasia sull’inno borbonico; etc.) However, Ferdinand never lifted the ban on the opera, and neither did his successor Francis II
Francis II of the Two Sicilies
Francis II , was King of the Two Sicilies from 1859 to 1861. He was the last King of the Two Sicilies, as successive invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia ultimately brought an end to his rule, and marked the first major event of Italian unification...
.
In 1861 the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...
was conquered by the Expedition of the Thousand
Expedition of the Thousand
The Expedition of the Thousand was a military campaign led by the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. A force of volunteers defeated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, leading to its dissolution and annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, an important step in the creation of a newly...
under Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
. Garibaldi served the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
which was in the process of Italian unification
Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
. While members of the deposed Royal House survived, they no longer carried any power, freeing Mercadante to present his opera. The work was finally premiered in Naples on 7 April 1866. The premiere night performance of the work proved to be problematic, but the second performance of the opera was triumphantly received.
Performance history
Although reactions to Mercadante's opera were positive, the work failed to gain a significant place in the performance repertory. Subsequent productions were mounted in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(1872), Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
(1877) and again in Naples (1901), but otherwise the opera remained largely ignored.
After a 75-year absence, Virginia was revived for its United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
premiere on November 27, 1976 in Whitla Hall at the Queen's University Festival in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. The notable cast included Janet Price
Janet Price
Janet Price is a Welsh soprano particularly associated with the 19th century Italian bel canto repertory. She has been married to composer Adrian Beaumont since 1963....
as Virginia, Christian du Plessis
Christian du Plessis
Christian du Plessis is a South African baritone, largely based in England, and particularly associated with the bel canto repertory....
as Virginio, Bonaventura Bottone
Bonaventura Bottone
Bonaventura Bottone is an operatic tenor who has performed at many of the world's leading opera houses. He trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The Academy awarded him a Fellowship in 1998...
as Appio, Maurice Arthur as Icilio, and the Chorus of the Northern Ireland Opera Trust. James Judd
James Judd
James Judd is a British conductor. He is considered one of the pre-eminent interpreters of English orchestral music and the music of Gustav Mahler....
conducted the Ulster Orchestra
Ulster Orchestra
The Ulster Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Belfast, the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall...
for the performance. A pirate recording of that performance was made by MRF Records, copies of which are part of the collections of a number of libraries, including the Chicago Public Library
Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Public Library is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 79 branches, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the city....
.
On the heels of the UK premiere was a scheduled American premiere of the work by the Opera Orchestra of New York
Opera Orchestra of New York
The Opera Orchestra of New York specializes in the performance of opera in concert form. It is particularly known for its work in presenting rarely performed repertory...
. Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
began to prepare the title role in 1977 for the anticipated premiere at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on March 29, 1978. However, Caballé became ill just prior to the performance, and the production was cancelled, never to be rescheduled. Since the 1976 UK production, Virginia was not revived until 2010 when it was mounted by the Wexford Festival Opera
Wexford Festival Opera
The Wexford Festival Opera is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in South-Eastern Ireland during the months of October and November.-Festival origins under Tom Walsh, 1951 to 1966:...
. In 2009 Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
released the first commercial recording of the work.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 7 April 1866 (Conductor: - Nicola De Giosa) |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 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... |
Marcella Lotti della Santa Marcella Lotti della Santa Marcella Lotti della Santa was an Italian opera singer who had an active international career during the 1850s and 1860s. One of her nation's leading sopranos, she drew particular acclaim for her portrayal of Verdi heroines... |
| Appio Claudio, a powerful Roman patrician | 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... |
Filippo Morelli-Ponti |
| Virginio, Virginia's father | bass | Marco Arati Marco Arati Marco Arati was an Italian operatic bass active during the 1840s through the 1880s. Although he occasionally appeared at other opera houses in Italy, he was primarily committed to the Teatro di San Carlo where he sang roles for more than four decades... |
| Icilio, Virginia's boyfriend | 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... |
Raffaele Mirate Raffaele Mirate Raffaele Mirate was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor who had an active career from the 1830s through the 1860s. Known for his intelligent phrasing and bright and powerful vocal timbre, he was regarded as an outstanding interpreter of the tenor roles in the early and middle period operas of... |
| Marco, Appio's associate | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Giorgio Stigelli |
| Tullia, Virginia's nurse | soprano | Adelaide Morelli |
| Valerio, Virginia's cousin | tenor | Michele Memmi |
Synopsis
- Place: Ancient RomeAncient RomeAncient 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....
Virginia, a plebeian, is the virgin daughter of Virginio, a Roman soldier. She and Icilio, a patrician, are in love and wish to marry. However Appio Claudio has declared that patricians and plebs can not marry one another, a fact which makes their marriage impossible. At the same time Appio notices Virginia's beauty, and desiring her, attempts to force himself on her. Iclio intervenes, and while saving Virginia, is killed by Appio. Virginio comes to her aid, reminding Appio of Virginia's protection under Roman law
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
as the daughter of a Roman citizen. Thwarted, Appio plots to get Virginia through legal trickery, claiming that she is not Virginio's daughter but in fact a slave
Slavery in ancient Rome
The institution of slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the Roman economy. Besides manual labor on farms and in mines, slaves performed many domestic services and a variety of other tasks, such as accounting...
belonging to his associate Marco. The case is brought before a public tribunal and it appears that Appio will have his way. Rather than be forced to be with Appio, Virginia stabs herself to death. Her act of tragic bravery inspires a massive insurrection of pleblians against Appio and the patrician regime.
Recordings
| Year | Cast (Virginia, Appio, Virginio, Icilio, Marco) |
Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Janet Price Janet Price Janet Price is a Welsh soprano particularly associated with the 19th century Italian bel canto repertory. She has been married to composer Adrian Beaumont since 1963.... , Bonaventura Bottone, Christian du Plessis Christian du Plessis Christian du Plessis is a South African baritone, largely based in England, and particularly associated with the bel canto repertory.... , Maurice Arthur, John Tomlinson John Tomlinson John Tomlinson may refer to:*John Tomlinson , British educationalist*John Tomlinson , English opera singer*John Tomlinson, Baron Tomlinson , Lord Tomlinson of Walsall, former MP and MEP... |
James Judd, Belfast Orchestra and Chorus (Recording of a performance in Belfast, 27 November) |
Audio CD: Premiere Opera Ltd. CDNO 2651-2 |
| 2009 | Susan Patterson, Paul Charles Clarke, Stefano Antonucci, Charles Castronovo Charles Castronovo Charles Castronovo , is an American tenor. He is currently in demand internationally as an opera singer. Castronovo was born to a Sicilian father and an Ecuadorian mother in Queens, New York but grew up in Southern California. He attended California State University, Fullerton for undergraduate... , Andrew Foster-Williams Andrew Foster-Williams Andrew Foster-Williams is an English lyric bass-baritone, concert singer and recitalist.Andrew Foster-Williams read music at Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating with a first-class honours degree. He has since been made an Associate of the Royal Academy... |
Maurizio Benini, London Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera... and the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir (Live performance) |
Audio CD: Opera Rara Opera Rara Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The... |