Griselda (Antonio Maria Bononcini)
Griselda is a dramma per musica in three acts that was composed by Antonio Maria Bononcini. The opera uses a slightly revised version of the 1701 Italian libretto by Apostolo Zeno that was based on Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron (X, 10, "The Patient Griselda").[1] The opera was dedicated to Prince Maximilian Karl von Löwenstein, the Austrian governor of Milan, who died during the opera's world première on 26 December 1718 at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan. Nevertheless, Bononcini's opera was well received and enjoyed several revivals during the eighteenth century.
His brother, Giovanni Battista Bononcini, wrote an even more popular version of his own to Zeno's libretto in 1722.[2]
Music
Bononcini's revised version of Zeno’s original text is for the most part not much different for he only deleted or altered a handful of the original 34 arias. The superbly wrought score shows off Bononcini's usual strengths for textural depth and contrapuntal complexity, two elements essential for any master composer of the baroque era.[1] Yet, in spite of its frequent Baroque textural complexities, Bononcini began to experiment with classical music features and pre-classical features predominate in the opera. For example, two thirds of the arias are in major keys, two-thirds are vivacious, and only three of the 38 songs feature the slow, dotted rhythms that indicate pathos in the baroque period.[2]
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 26 December 1718 |
|---|---|---|
| Griselda, wife of Gualtiero | coloratura mezzo soprano | |
| Gualtiero, King of Thessaly | contralto (origanally a castrato) | |
| Roberto, brother of Corrado | soprano (originally a castrato) | |
| Corrado, Prince of Puglia | tenor | |
| Costanza, missing daughter of Griselda and Gualtiero | contralto | |
| Ottone, a Sicilian nobleman | bass |
Synopsis
Sources
- ^ a b The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
- ^ a b Malcolm Boyd, Lowell Lindgren: "Griselda (i)", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 21, 2008), (subscription access)