Catone (Handel)

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Work data
Original title: Catone
Title page of the libretto, London 1732

Title page of the libretto, London 1732

Shape: Opera seria
Original language: Italian
Music: Leonardo Leo , Johann Adolph Hasse a . a., editing: Georg Friedrich Händel
Libretto : Pietro Metastasio , Catone in Utica (Rome 1728)
Premiere: November 4, 1732
Place of premiere: King's Theater , Haymarket, London
Place and time of the action: Utica , near Carthage , 46 BC. Chr.
people

Catone or Cato ( HWV A 7 ) is a dramma per musica in three acts. The pasticcio based on Leonardo Leo's Catone in Utica is an arrangement by Georg Friedrich Handel .

Emergence

For five seasons, between December 1729 and June 1734, Handel, supported by the impresario Johann Jacob Heidegger , was practically solely responsible for the Italian opera at the King's Theater on London's Haymarket. In the previous decade, the operas had been produced by the Royal Academy of Music , the so-called first opera academy, a group of aristocrats and country nobles who, in association with other subscribers, financed the operation; but after the failure of the academy in 1728, the management ceded their rights to Handel and Heidegger for five years. The new agreement gave Handel the privilege - rare for a composer of the time - to produce operas largely to his own taste. The repertoire of the serious, heroic operas, the opera series preferred by the first academy, was expanded in February 1730 to include Partenope , the setting of a highly amusing libretto by Silvio Stampiglia , which the academy had already considered in 1726, but due to reasons rejected his "depravity". In addition, pasticci , arrangements of operas by leading Italian composers, came on stage to “fill” the program. The first pasticcio in this series, Ormisda (1730), was very successful, but the subsequent Venceslao (1731) and Lucio Papirio dittatore (May 23, 1732) each had only four performances and failed.

At the beginning of the 1732/33 season, Handel again resorted to a pasticcio, the material of which he probably got to know during his trip to Italy in 1729. It was an opera by Leonardo Leo, which opened the Carnival season 1729 on December 26, 1728 in the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo with Farinelli in the title role, who made his debut in Venice. Leo's work formed the basis for Handel's London adaptation. In addition, arias by Johann Adolph Hasse , Nicola Porpora , Antonio Vivaldi and Leonardo Vinci have been integrated into the work. The opera was only performed five times, on November 4th, 7th, 11th, 14th and 18th, 1732.

Cast of the premiere

Catone was viewed by some in London as a work of Handel and, as such, received negative reviews. Nevertheless, a small collection of “Favorite Songs” (six arias) was printed by John Walsh .

“I am just come from a long, dull, and consequently tiresome Opera of Handel's, whose genius seems quite exhausted. [...] The only thing I liked in it was our Naples acquaintance, Celestina; who is not so pretty as she was, but sings better than she did. "

“I have just come from a long, boring and therefore tiring opera by Handel, whose genius seems to be exhausted. […] The only thing I liked was our acquaintance from Naples, Celestina, who is no longer as beautiful as she was, but who sings better than ever before. "

- Lord Hervey : Letter to Stephen Fox , St. James's, November 4, 1732

libretto

The libretto Catone in Utica is based on Pietro Metastasio , who later became the imperial court poet of Charles VI. , back. It is the first of four opera libretti that he wrote for the Teatro delle Dame in Rome before he went to Vienna. The others are Alessandro nell'Indie , Semiramide riconosciuta (both 1729) and Artaserse (1730). All four operas were set to music for the first time by Leonardo Vinci . Catone in Utica was premiered on January 19, 1728 and, with around 30 compositions, was to become one of Metastasio's most popular operatic texts. Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi, his real name, knew how to effectively combine classical form and politically and morally advanced content in this opera seria . Its sources were possibly the earlier libretto Cateone uticenze (1701) by the Venetian Matteo Noris , Joseph Addison's famous and influential tragedy Cato (written in 1712, translated into Italian in 1725) and Caton d'Utique (1715) by François-Michel-Chrétien Deschamps , one of them French tragedy in the tradition of Pierre Corneille . For the poets of the opera series , especially Metastasio and his predecessor in Vienna, Apostolo Zeno , the French tragedy of the 17th century was an important source of inspiration.

Metastasios Catone in Utica was initially received with mixed feelings. If the audience in Naples had just accepted Dido's death in the flames at the end of Didone abbandonata (1724), Roman critics were unwilling to watch the painfully slow death of the hero Cato, which spanned the last two scenes of the opera, and to forego the usual “ lieto fine ”. Audience and criticism also clashed at a creepy scene that takes place in a disused sewer. Metastasio, not insensitive to criticism, then revised the second half of the third act. In this, its second version, Cato's death is simply narrated, and all that remains of the “Acquedotti antichi” is the entrance to it, with a fountain dedicated to the goddess Isis and several trees as a visual distraction. For Metastasio, both versions of this drama were equal, but most composers, including Leonardo Leo, preferred the revised version.

The surviving London director's score (“hand copy”) of Handel's arrangement, which is now in the Hamburg State and University Library , confirms Friedrich Chrysander's assumption that the musical model was Leo's opera, because it is based on a London copy of Leo's opera owned by Sir John Buckworth , a director of the Royal Academy in 1726 and a director of the Opera of the Nobility in 1733 , with which Handel was in contact. Buckworth must also have been at the Venice Carnival in 1729, because he is the dedicatee of the second opera (Porporas Semiramide ) at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo during this season, which is also passed down in the Buckworth collection. So he probably brought the score by Leos Catone with him to London and loaned it to Handel in 1732. This, now owned by the Royal Academy of Music , contains Handel's pencil notes, which highlight the abbreviations and changes in the recitatives, but primarily refer to them Elimination of the role of Fulvio that was not occupied in London. The tenor for whom Handel had probably considered this role, Giovanni Battista Pinacci , has not been in Handel's ensemble since the beginning of the new season.

action

Guillaume Guillon Lethière : Catos Death in Utica , 1795, Hermitage (Saint Petersburg) .

Historical and literary background

It is the tragedy of the Roman statesman Cato of Utica , who lived from 95 to 46 BC, told in classical historiography by Plutarch , in whose Bíoi parálleloi (Parallel Biographies), Appianos of Alexandria ( Rhomaika ) and Cassius Dio ( Historia Romana ) . BC and went down in the history of ancient Rome as the "father of the fatherland". The great grandson of Cato the Elder and author of famous writings on the emergence of Rome and the Punic Wars in the 2nd century BC. Was also the father-in-law of Brutus . As an ardent advocate of the republic, he distrusted both Pompey and Caesar . When Caesar 49 BC BC crossed the Rubicon , Cato took the side of Pompey. After the defeat at Pharsalus , which cost Pompey his life, Cato fled to Utica in Africa . The flight to Utica earned Cato the nickname Uticensis. After the defeat of his friend Metellus Scipio by Caesar near Thapsus (North Africa) in 46 BC. In accordance with his stoic philosophy , Cato committed suicide. For purely musical reasons, Metastasio changed the name of Pompey's widow, Cornelia Metella , to Emilia and that of the prince and later King of Numidia, Juba , to Arbace.

content

Despite his overwhelming military superiority, Cesare tries to win Catone as a friend; a marriage with his daughter Marzia, who secretly loves him, could be helpful. However, Catone promised Marzia to the Numidian prince Arbace. Emilia, widow of Pompeio, who was murdered by Cesare, also intrigues against Marzias' connection with her mortal enemy Cesare. In spite of Cesare's goodwill, Catone is not ready to give up his principles; in a hopeless situation, he finally decides to commit suicide and thus destroys Marzia's happiness in life. In the historical antagonists Caesar and Cato, the highly political opera confronts two irreconcilable attitudes: on the one hand, a claim to rule derived without hesitation from the power of the fittest, and on the other hand, compliance with the law based on republican understanding of law.

Argomento

“After Pompey's death, his opponent Julius Cesar made himself a constant dictator. One saw that not only Rome and the council paid homage to him, but the whole world, except for the young Cato, a Roman councilor, who was later called Cato of Utika after the place where he died: a man who was a father of the country, not only for its strict observance of ancient customs, but also for its bravery. He was a great friend of Pompey and a strict protector of Roman liberty. They had gathered in Utika the small remnant of Pompey's scattered army, with the help of the Juba King of the Numidians, a sincere friend of the Republic, and had the courage to oppose the luck of the victor. Cesar arrived here with a large army, and although he could suppress him with such overwhelming power, instead of making threats, he only used requests to make himself a friend to him, because he valued his virtue very highly; but Cato, after having disdainfully refused all applications and felt abandoned by the protection of the Romans, would rather die than a free man by killing himself. At his death, Cesar showed signs of the greatest sorrow that posterity remained in doubt whether it should admire his generosity, which also venerates virtue in the enemy, or the steadfastness of the other, who did not want to survive the lost freedom of the fatherland. The setting is in Utika, an African city. "

- Johann Christian Bach : Cato in Utica. A musical singing game. (1761)

music

With Catone , Handel wanted to present the work of a still unknown representative of the younger generation of Italian composers in London. At the same time he took the opportunity to bring another drama of the now famous Metastasio based on his own settings ( Siroe , 1728, Poro , 1731 and Ezio , 1732). His changes to Leo's score extended to new versions of recitatives as well as to transposing, exchanging and inserting arias by other composers. Handel apparently tried to keep as much of Leo's setting in his version as possible, so essential parts of the recitatives, the ( overture ), a symphonia from the ritornello of the choir Gia il mondo ti cede intero and nine arias have been taken from the original, three more were only deleted or replaced during the preparation of the director's score. Handel's approach to the arias was different from, for example, in the Lucio Papirio dittatore, and so Catone became a real pasticcio at the start of the new season. The director's score contains twenty-five arias, fully or partially preserved (including those that were later replaced). In addition to the nine by Leo, there are six by Hasse, four by Porpora, probably three by Vivaldi and one by Vinci. The authorship of two other arias is unknown. There were a comparatively large number of changes during the rehearsals: even before the text booklet was printed, two of the arias for the Celestina were exchanged for others, Montagnana got one more in addition to its three, while the Strada switched to one, probably an original Leo Aria, had to do without. After the libretto was printed and probably after the world premiere, two more arias by Gismondi were exchanged. As in Elpidia and Ormisda , Handel was quite generous when it came to fulfilling the wishes of his singers in the selection of arias.

When it came to revising the recitatives, Handel proceeded differently than he had recently with Lucio Papirio : First his secretary, Smith senior, wrote the revised text in the director's score. Then Handel entered all the proposed changes in pencil in the director's score, after having entered the abbreviations and a few crucial stage directions in the Leo Buckworth score. Smith then colored Handel's pencil entries with ink and copied the rest of the sheet music from the Buckworth score.

Handel's arrangement of Leos Catone provides an exemplary example of how he took on the problem of characterizing the roles and assigned each individual singer the right balance between musical and dramatic responsibility. For several reasons he had to proceed differently than last time with Lucio Papirio dittatore . Metastasios and Leos Catone in Utica had to be prepared quite differently for the London stage, whereby there were other than purely artistic factors to be considered. The drastic shortening of the long recitatives Metastasios was indispensable for the London theater tradition and the public taste, as described by Giuseppe Riva . The selection of the arias was determined not only by the technical possibilities, the pitch and the artistic-creative possibilities of the newly engaged ensemble members, but also by their position in the Opera Academy, which was reflected in the amount of their respective fees, and the importance of their roles in drama. According to a long-established opera tradition, the external and internal balance of a performance had to be maintained by adhering to a series of conventions, such as the distinction between first, second and third roles. This influenced the classification of the arias according to their affect and musical structure, as well as the number and position of the arias of each singer. Handel also fought against schematization in this area. From a letter to Francis Colman, it can be seen that he saw the need to keep an eye on this ranking of roles in order to avoid intolerable restrictions. In it he asks Colman

«[…] Prier de nouveau qu'il ne soit pas fait mention dans les Contracts du premier, second, ou troisieme Rolle, puisque cela nous géne dans le choix du Drama, et est d'ailleurs sujet a de grands inconveniens. »

"[...] again that in the contracts there is no mention of the first, second or third roles, as this hinders us in the choice of the pieces and is also a cause of great inconvenience."

- Georg Friedrich Handel : Letter to Francis Colman, London, June 19, 1730

His main concern as opera director was to have a free hand, while as an artist he was always ready to adapt. (He had previously given indications of a similar stance in the dispute between the rival prima donnas Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni 1726–28.)

The bassist Montagnana, for example, was an exceptional singer and Handel could not possibly expect him to accept a minor role in the drama, such as that of Fulvio. So he got the role of Caesar, which Leo had originally written for the soprano Domenico Gizzi and consequently had to get important bass arias from other operas. This meant that Metastasio's original intention of contrasting the young, adventurous lover Caesar, a soprano in the form of the hero and strict father Cato, with a male voice (tenor) was turned upside down. Leo even wrote the role of Cato for a soprano, thus reducing the patriarchal character of the role. Nicolini had taken over this part and now, in London, Senesino was in many ways his perfect successor, who only sang arias by Leo in the Catone . There was no problem with the transfer of the prima donna part from Lucia Facchinelli to the Strada, Handel only gave her an additional "last song", the well-known aria Vo solcando un mar crudele (No. 24b) from Vinci's Artaserse (1730). This new ending is, of course, a bizarre solution to the problematic “tragico fine” metastasis. Despite the weakening following public criticism of the ending of the first version, Metastasio had the Accompagnato Ah, se costar mi deve (No. 23), in which Cesare, although victorious in the battle, awards his opponent Cato the moral victory and his suicide and throwing his own laurels angrily to the ground, left at the end of the opera. While the critical and moralizing approach was retained in Leo's version at the end of the drama, it was weakened here both dramatically and musically by the incorporation of the well-known and popular aria.

The role of Arbace, which Leo wrote for Farinelli, was so reduced in London that it was hardly recognizable. Francesca Bertolli was neither able nor allowed to sing a single aria by Farinelli. Celeste Gismondi (who later became Mrs. Hempson in London and is probably identical with the soubrette Celeste Resse, who sang regularly in interludes between 1724 and 1732 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples) apparently only sang arias in which she had already proven herself.

Handel and the pasticcio

The pasticcio was a source for Handel, of which he made frequent use in the following years. They were not new to London or the continent, but Handel had only released one, L'Elpidia, ovvero Li rivali generosi in 1724. Now he delivered seven more within five years: Ormisda in 1729/30, Venceslao 1730/31, Lucio Papirio dittatore in 1731/32, Catone , and no less than three, Semiramide riconosciuta , Caio Fabbricio and Arbace in 1733/34 . Handel's working method in the construction of the pasticci was very different, but all materials are based on libretti by Zeno or Metastasio , which are familiar in the European opera metropolises and which many contemporary composers had adopted - above all Leonardo Vinci , Johann Adolph Hasse , Nicola Porpora , Leonardo Leo , Giuseppe Orlandini and Geminiano Giacomelli . Handel composed the recitatives or adapted existing ones from the chosen template. Very rarely did he rewrite an aria, usually in order to adapt it to a different pitch and tessit . For example in Semiramide riconosciuta , where he completely recomposed an aria for an old castrato Saper bramante (No. 14) for bassist Gustav Waltz , because a simple octave transposition (which has been common since the 1920s until today) was not an option for him. Wherever possible, he included the repertoire of the singer in question in the selection of arias. Most of the time the arias had to be transposed when they were transferred from one context to another or transferred from one singer to another. They also got a new text by means of the parody process . The result didn't always have to make sense, because it was more about letting the singers shine than producing a coherent drama. Aside from Ormisda and Elpidia , who were the only ones to see revivals , Handel's pasticci weren't particularly successful - Venceslao and Lucio Papirio dittatore only had four performances each - but like revivals, they required less work than composing and rehearsing new works could well be used as a stopgap or start of the season, or step in when a new opera, as was the case with Partenope in February 1730 and Ezio in January 1732, was a failure. Handel pasticci have one important common feature: the sources were all contemporary and popular materials that had been set to music in the recent past by many composers who set in the “modern” Neapolitan style. He had introduced this with the Elpidia of Vinci in London and later this style merged with his own contrapuntal working method to the unique mixture that permeates his later operas.

orchestra

Two oboes , two horns , two trumpets , strings, basso continuo ( violoncello , lute , harpsichord ).

literature

Web links

Commons : Catone  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anthony Hicks : Trade. Orlando , L'Oiseau-Lyre 430 845-2, London 1991, p. 30 ff.
  2. ^ A b Bernd Baselt : Thematic-systematic directory. Instrumental music, pasticci and fragments. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Händel-Handbuch: Volume 3 , Deutscher Verlag für Musik , Leipzig 1986, ISBN 3-7618-0716-3 , p. 371.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Reinhard Strohm : Handel's pasticci. In: Essays on Handel and Italian Opera , Cambridge University Press 1985, Reprint 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-26428-0 , pp. 179 ff. (English).
  4. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Hrsg.): Handel manual: Volume 4 , Deutscher Verlag für Musik , Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 204
  5. ^ Catone in Utica . operone.de. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  6. ^ A b c John H. Roberts: Catone. In: Annette Landgraf and David Vickers: The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia , Cambridge University Press 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-88192-0 , pp. 129 f. (English).
  7. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition: Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (Ed.): Händel-Handbuch: Volume 4 , Deutscher Verlag für Musik , Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 180
  8. ↑ Christopher Hogwood : Georg Friedrich Handel. A biography (= Insel-Taschenbuch 2655). Translated from the English by Bettina Obrecht, Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-458-34355-5 , p. 172.
  9. ↑ Winton Dean : Handel's Operas, 1726-1741. Boydell & Brewer, London 2006. Reprint: The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-268-3 . P. 128 f.