Arminio (Hasse, 1745/1753)

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Opera dates
Original title: Arminio
Title page of the libretto, Dresden 1745

Title page of the libretto, Dresden 1745

Shape: Opera seria in three acts
Original language: Italian
Music: Johann Adolph Hasse
Libretto : Giovanni Claudio Pasquini
Premiere: 1) October 7, 1745
2) January 8, 1753
Place of premiere: Hoftheater Dresden (both versions)
Playing time: about 3 hours
Place and time of the action: Germania, 9 AD
people
  • Varo , governor of the Roman Empire in Germania ( castrato , soprano )
  • Arminio , prince and leader of the Cherusci, engaged to and in love with Tusnelda
    (castrato, 1745: alto , 1753: soprano)
  • Segeste , Prince of Chats , Friend of Varus ( tenor )
  • Tusnelda , daughter of Segeste, engaged to and in love with Arminio (soprano)
  • Segimiro, Tusnelda's brother and friend Arminios (castrato, soprano)
  • Marzia, Varo's sister, loves Segimiro (soprano)
  • Tullo, general of the Romans and confidante Varos ( bass )
  • Lictors, officers and Roman soldiers in the wake of Varos, Chatti soldiers in the wake of Segeste, Cheruscan soldiers in the wake of Arminius, pages and ladies in the wake of Tusnelda, pages in the wake of Marzia (extras)

Arminio is an opera seria in three acts by Johann Adolph Hasse with a libretto by Giovanni Claudio Pasquini . It was premiered on October 7, 1745 in the Opera House am Zwinger in Dresden and revised in 1753. This opera should not be confused with Hasse's opera of the same name from 1730, which is based on a libretto by Antonio Salvi (→ Arminio (Hasse, 1730) ).

content

The plot of the opera is based on the life of Arminius , the prince of the Cherusci , who inflicted one of their most devastating defeats on the Romans in the Varus Battle in 9 AD with the annihilation of three legions.

first act

The leader of the Chatten Segeste informs his daughter Tusnelda and his son Segimiro that he has made an alliance with the Romans. Since Arminio, as the leader of the Cherusci, continues to resist the Romans, his children are supposed to cut off all ties with Arminio, so Tusnelda break her engagement and Segemiro break his friendship with Arminio.

Since Tusnelda loves Arminio and Segimiro also feels very friendly feelings for Arminio, she brings this fatherly instruction into a conflict typical of baroque opera about whom to follow.

On behalf of Augustus, Varo wants to pacify all Teutons through marriage and demands from his (Varos) sister Marzia that she marry Arminio. Marzia, for her part, is already in love with Segimiro.

There comes a meeting between Varo and Arminio, at which Varo submits his Roman proposal to the Cheruscan prince. Arminio, however, rejects this proposal and any subordination to the Romans. Varo warns Arminio that this will have consequences for his insistence.

Segimiro informs Arminio of his father's decision and breaks off his friendship and, on behalf of him, the engagement to Tusnelda. Arminio then expresses his sadness that he has to do without Tusnelda.

Tusnelda, meanwhile, wants to kill herself and is standing on the edge of a cliff when Arminio arrives just in time to prevent her suicide. Tusnelda tries to persuade Arminio to let her jump. Instead, however, Arminio now wants to flee with her. Tusnelda's father, Segeste, witnesses how Arminio spreads this plan in front of Tusnelda and then has both arrested and delivers Arminio to Varo.

Second act

After his transfer to Varo's house, Segimiro Arminio looks for him there and wants to help him escape. However, this plan is discovered and Arminio is put in the dungeon. There he now fears for the lives of both Segimiro and Tusnelda.

Marzia goes to Segeste and begs him to have pity on his daughter and to let Tusnelda go.

Back at Varo's house, Varo demands of Marzia that she marry Arminio that same evening, otherwise the rebellious Arminio will be killed. Despite hesitating, Marzia accepts, knowing that otherwise Varo would implement his decision.

Segeste is given the task of speaking well with Marzia Arminio and at the same time making him aware of the seriousness of the situation. But Segeste sends his son (Segimiro) and Tusnelda in his place. Segimiro sees this as a chance to free Arminio, but does not tell his sister this. Instead, he begs her, she must Arminio persuaded to agree Varos plan and marry Marzia.

With a heavy heart Tusnelda asked Arminio to save his life and to make peace with the Romans by marrying Marzia. Arminio brusquely rejects this proposal and confirms his love for and loyalty to Tusnelda.

In mourning, Tusnelda says goodbye to Arminio and resigns. Shortly afterwards, Segimiro enters the prison in the disguise of a Roman soldier, takes Arminio's chains and takes his place. Arminio should put on the Roman uniform and thus flee unrecognized.

Third act

Arminio finds Tusnelda and informs her that thanks to her brother he is free. Tusnelda begs him to flee, but before he does so, Arminio reassures her of his undying love.

Marzia seeks out her brother and, in the presence of Segimiro’s father, confesses her love for Segimiro and explains to both of them that she will face all the consequences.

Tullo steps in and announces that insurgent troops are approaching. Varo sends guards to the dungeon to get Arminio, but Segimiro is brought up instead of Arminio. Segeste expresses his anger at the betrayal and breach of faith by his son and tries to kill Segimiro, but is stopped by Varo.

Varo goes into battle to put down the Arminio revolt. Segeste stays behind and has his two children thrown into the dungeon again. Impressed by the courage and steadfastness of the supposed barbarians, Tullo gives Segimiro and Tusnelda freedom.

On the battlefield, Arminio defeats the Romans. With sword in hand, Segeste threatens to kill Tusnelda, but Arminio manages to free his beloved. But when Arminio then raises his sword against her father, his two children confront him and demand that Arminio Segeste be spared.

Impressed by her virtue and loyalty, Arminio drops his sword. Segeste is then overcome with shame and he wants to reconcile with his children and also with Arminio. For his part, Arminio announces his decision to make peace with Varo, but at the moment Tullo informs him that Varo has committed suicide.

Segimiro finds Marzia and apologizes to her for causing her brother's death. In the end, all survivors are reconciled, get what they have wanted all along, and sing about their happiness and thank the gods for it. In the final chorus they also express that tyrants who oppress others are held accountable by the gods.

Work history

Hasse wrote the new Arminio in Dresden. For this he did not use the libretto by Antonio Salvi , which he had used 15 years earlier, but the model of Giovanni Claudio Pasquini, who had been appointed to Dresden since 1742 to succeed the court poet Stefano Pallavicini, who died there on April 16, 1742 .

First performance in Dresden on October 7th

The premiere of the second, Dresden version of Arminio took place at the name day celebrations of the Saxon Elector Friedrich August III on October 7th, 1745 due to the fighting during the Second Silesian War, as an exception, not in the hunting lodge Hubertusburg , as usual , but in the opera house at the Zwinger Dresden instead.

In this first performance the roles were cast as follows:

Due to the war, the celebrations were generally more modest and there was only one performance.

Repetition of the first performance for Frederick II of Prussia on December 19, 1745

After conquering Dresden on December 18, 1745, Frederick II of Prussia had the opera performed once again "with all decorations and ballets" during the nine-day "occupation" by the Prussian army on December 19, and a year later he initiated a " with special care ”arranged resumption of the opera at his theater in Berlin.

Performed again in Dresden on January 8, 1753

Took place at the opening of the carnival on January 8, 1753 in Dresden a resumption of Arminio - new cast in most roles, because hatred wife Faustina Bordoni of the stage had withdrawn and the castrato Giovanni Bindi died 1750th

The “new” prima donna at the Saxon court, Teresa Albuzzi-Todeschini, and Giuseppe Belli, who was employed as Bindi's successor in 1752, appeared as the new stars. In addition, one of the highest paid tenors of his time, Angelo Amorevoli , shone as Segeste. Amorevoli had already sung the same role in Giuseppe Scarlatti's Arminio in Germania in 1741 .

Pen drawings of the costumes have come down to us from the second Dresden performance.

  • Singer of the 1753 re-performance

  • Bartolommeo Puttini
    (Varo)

  • Teresa Albuzzi-Todeschini
    (Tusnelda)

  • Angelo Maria Monticelli
    (Arminio)

  • Angelo Amorevoli
    (Segeste)

  • Giuseppe Belli
    (Segimiro)

Performance at the Dresden court in exile in Warsaw on August 3, 1761

During the Seven Years' War and the associated “exile” of the Dresden court in Warsaw, a performance of Hasse's Arminio took place in Warsaw on August 3, 1761 , apparently without the participation of the composer.

The line-up is not recorded in the libretto.

Performances in Berlin from 1746

For the carnival of 1746/47, Friedrich II had his own performance of Hasse's Arminio produced in Berlin at his royal court theater. The first performance took place on December 30, 1746 in the Berlin court theater. The line-up was reconstructed using a cloakroom inventory and information in the incomplete collection of arias:

Differences between the Berlin version 1747 and the original version Dresden 1745

Arminio's music was slightly modified for the Berlin performance. In particular, Carl Heinrich Graun had to compose the Tullo's aria anew , since no bass like Joseph Schuster was available. In addition, he also rewrote the final chorus. In addition, 6 arias were transposed, i.e. H. adapted to the vocal range of the singers in Berlin.

According to Pümicke, Hasse's Arminio and the opera Cajo Fabricio by Carl Heinrich Graun, which had previously been premiered, “competed for preference”.

Arminio was - after La clemenza di Tito (1743) - Hasse's second opera to be performed at the Berlin Opera House. Together, they laid the foundation for a tradition of Hassean music in Berlin, which was particularly intensified after Graun's death in 1759 and the end of the Seven Years' War. Owing to the taste of Friedrich II of Prussia, Graun and Hasse determined the repertoire of the Berlin opera until his death.

Resumption in Berlin 1773/1774

In this context there was another performance of Hasseschen Arminio for the carnival in 1773/1774 in the following cast:

Karl Heinrich Siegfried Rödenbeck describes the carnival 1773/74 in his diary or history calendar from Frederick the Great's Regent Life (1740–1786) (vol. 3, p. 90, entry for December 24, 1773) as follows:

“Beginning of Carnival. The order of the day was: Sunday and Wednesday noon: the usual court with the king; Sunday evening: Cour with the widowed Princess of Prussia; Monday: opera; Tuesday: Redoubt; Wednesday: French drama; Thursday: Cour with the Princess of Prussia; Friday: opera; Saturday: rest. The operas were: 1) Arminius, 2) Demophantes. The French drama and tragedy: Britannicus, le menteur, Titus, le Chevalier à la mode, Ariane. "

Re-performance in Berlin 1842

Even in the 19th century, in 1842, Hasse's Arminio was revived, along with other baroque operas. However, this was a one time affair and did not result in a lengthy Hasse revival. The only permanent preservation of baroque music in Berlin was the annual oratorio music by Graun, but even more so the works of Johann Sebastian Bach , at the Berlin Sing-Akademie .

Vienna 1747

For her birthday on May 13, 1747, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had Hasseschen Arminio from 1745 performed in Vienna. Most recently, this was interpreted as the Habsburgs' siding with their allied Saxons and as “showing the flag” against their Prussian rivals in the Silesian War .

Brunswick 1747

Also in 1747, Hasse's Arminio came onto the stage in Braunschweig under the slightly changed German title Hermann und Varus . A comparison of the libretti showed that the same cuts were made for the Braunschweig production compared to the original in Dresden as for the performance in Berlin. This suggests that the production was taken over from Berlin.

In contrast to the performance in Berlin, however, the recitatives in Braunschweig were obviously sung in German, with the exception of one scene, because the libretto only provides a translation for the Italian-language arias. The names of the people involved were Germanized to Varus, Hermann, Segestes, Thusnelde, Marzia, Sigmar and Tullus.

Modern re-performance in 2016

In 2016 Arminio von Hasse and Pasquini was performed again in Warsaw with the Orkiestra Historyczna from Katowice (Silesia).

literature

  • Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: “La musica è del Signor Hasse detto il Sassone…” Johann Adolf Hasse's ›Opere serie‹ from 1730 to 1745. Sources, versions, performances. Part II: List of works, sources and performances. V&R unipress 2009, ISBN 978-3-89971-442-5 , pp. 109-128.
  • Wolfgang Hochstein: Hermann the Cheruscan as an opera hero: Notes on the Arminio settings by Johann Adolf Hasse. In: Culture Education Politics: Festschrift for Hermann Rauhe on his 70th birthday. Edited by Hanns-Werner Heister and Wolfgang Hochstein. Von Bockel, Hamburg 2000, pp. 129–169.
  • Roger Christian Skarsten: Singing Arminius, Imagining a German Nation: Narratives of the "liberator Germaniae" in Early Modern Europe. PhD Thesis (Diss. To Dr. phil.) University of Minnesota 2012 - Dissertation on the various librettos on Hermann the Etruscan and their intonations by various composers ( online )
  • Louis Schneider: History of the opera and the royal opera house in Berlin. Duncker, Berlin 1856 - about Arminio in Berlin as well as Hasse and Friedrich II. ( Snippet view in the Google book search)
  • Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.). Dresden: Kuntze 1862, pp. 240–241 - about the Arminio in Dresden ( online in the Google book search)

Libretti and sheet music / scores

Web links

Commons : Arminio (Hasse, Dresden 1745)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ The historical Segimires was the father of Arminius.
  2. ↑ Why Maria Rosa Negri, although she actually worked for the Dresden court orchestra until her death in 1760, did not participate in the resumption of Arminio is not known. Her biography and that of Ventura Rocchetti have not yet been explored.
  3. ↑ Time and scoring information reconstructed on the basis of aria notes after Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: "La musica è del Signor Hasse detto il Sassone ..." Johann Adolf Hasse's 'Opere serie' from 1730 to 1745. Vol. II. List of sources and performances. P. 127. See the explanations in Hans Michel Schletterer: Johann Friedrich Reichardt: His life and his musical activity. Vol. 1. Augsburg: Schlosser, p. 222 , who incorrectly gives the carnival season 1776/77 as the time.
  4. ↑ The revival of baroque operas, in addition to Hasse's Arminio , also Handel's Arianna in Creta , Jomelli's Caio Mario and operas by Lully, took place because “it was recently discovered that the older operas had far more spirit, depth and contain musical beauty than the newer ones, even if they are already covered in fifty-year-old dust ”. See Österreichisches Morgenblatt. Volume 7 (1842), p. 163 .
  5. ↑ One should note, however, that both Hasse and the Saxon royal court were generally in lively exchange with Vienna and that Hasse's music was just as appreciated in Vienna. After his release in Dresden by his successor August III. Friedrich Christian should continue to employ the Viennese Kaiserhof Hasse.
  6. ↑ Caution: loading takes longer! Possibly. Java needs to be updated!

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Strohm : Arminio. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , pp. 718-719.
  2. ^ Quotations from (1) Louis Schneider: History of the opera and the royal opera house in Berlin. Berlin: Duncker 1856, pp. 112–113 and (2) Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of the Electors of Saxony and Kings of Poland Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.). Dresden: Kuntze 1862, p. 241 .
  3. ↑ cf. Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: "La musica è del Signor Hasse detto il Sassone ..." Johann Adolf Hasse's 'Opere serie' from 1730 to 1745. Vol. II. List of works, sources and performances. Pp. 125-126
  4. ↑ cf. on this Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: Hate's operas on Friedrich's stage. In: Johann Adolf Hasse. Tradition, Reception, Present (Congress Report Hamburg 2010) (= Hasse Studies, special series, 3rd ). Stuttgart 2013, pp. 49-68; here pp. 54 and 58–59
  5. ^ Carl Martin Plümicke: Draft of a theater history of Berlin together with general remarks. Berlin & Stettin: Nicolai 1781, p. 126 The entire passage reads: “In Carneval 1746, Graun emerged with Cajus Fabricius, whose text was by Apostolo Zeno, whereupon Arminius von Hassen's composition appeared in early 1747 . The poetry belonged to Abbot Pasquini. Incidentally, both operas competed for preference. "
  6. ^ Rudolf Hüls: Freedom Consciousness through Music. The Arminio as a ceremonial political opera in Lucca. In: Handel yearbook 2015. pp. 479–510, here pp. 489–490.
  7. ↑ Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: La musica è del signor Hasse… Vol. 2, pp. 126–127, cf. also Gustav Friedrich Schmidt: New contributions to the history of music and theater at the ducal court of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel… Munich 1929
  8. ↑ Arminio - opera, gościnnie {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna , accessed on April 27, 2018.