Il Ruggiero
| Work data | |
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| Title: | Il Ruggiero |
Third act, scene IV. |
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| Shape: | Opera seria |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | First setting by Johann Adolph Hasse |
| Libretto : | Pietro Metastasio |
| Premiere: | October 16, 1771 |
| Place of premiere: | Milan |
| Place and time of the action: | On the banks of the Seine near Paris, around 800 |
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Il Ruggiero (full name: Il Ruggiero ovvero L'Eroica gratitudine ) is an opera - libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio . The work was performed for the first time in the setting by Johann Adolph Hasse on October 16, 1771 for the wedding of Archduke Ferdinand with Archduchess Maria Beatrice d'Este in the Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan. The only other setting of the libretto is by Antonio Gandini in 1820.
A German translation of the libretto by Johann Anton Koch appeared in 1775 under the name Rudiger, or heroic gratitude in the seventh volume of his unfinished complete edition Des Herr Abbot Peter Metastasio Kayserl. Royal Court Poet's Dramatic Poems.
action
The main characters and plot of the libretto are based on the last three songs 44–46 of the verse epic Der Rasende Roland ( Orlando furioso ) by Ludovico Ariosto , published in 1516 . The hero Ruggiero loves the warrior Bradamante. When Ruggiero goes missing, Bradamante declares that she will only enter into a marriage if she cannot defeat the contender in a duel. However, Ruggiero returns with the Greek Emperor Leone, to whom he owes his life. Leone falls in love with Bradamante and persuades Ruggiero to take his place in disguise.
«L'eroica gratitudine di Ruggiero verso il principe Leone suo rivale, che generoso nemico l'avea liberato da morte, si trova mirabilmente espressa ne 'tre ultimi canti del Furioso dall'immortale Lodovico Ariosto, di cui nel presente dramma si son seguitate tanto esattamente le tracce quanto ha conceduto la nota differenza che corre fra le leggi del drammatico e quelle del narrativo poema.
L'azione succede in riva alla Senna nelle vicinanze di Parigi, in una vasta e deliziosa villa reale, che contiene diversi ma quasi contigui magnifici alloggiamenti. "
“The heroic gratitude of Ruggiero to his rival, Prince Leone, who generously saved his enemy from death, is admirably expressed in the last three songs of the Furioso by the immortal Ludovico Ariosto, which are precisely retold in this play. However, there are clear differences between the dramatic and the narrative poem.
The action takes place on the banks of the Seine near Paris, in a large and beautiful royal palace adjoining various pretty loggias. "
The following table of contents is based on the libretto of the setting by Johann Adolph Hasse , published in Milan in 1771 .
first act
One-storey galleries at Clotilde's apartment
Ruggiero, the lover of the Frankish warrior Bradamante, went to war to defend Bulgaria against the Greeks. He has been missing since the battle that took place three months ago. Bradamante informs her friend Clotilde that she is planning to look for Ruggiero. Clotilde advises against it. The Frankish knight Ottone, a confidante of Bradamante and Ruggiero, announces the arrival of the Greek Emperor Leone in Paris, who is openly wooing Bradamante. Ottone leaves to research Ruggiero among the Greeks. Clotilde herself has long been in love with Leone and suffers from his new passion for Bradamante.
Gallery at Leone's apartment
Ottone found Ruggiero. This stays incognito under the name Erminio with the Greeks and tells him his last experiences. After the battle against the Greeks, he went to rest in an inn and then woke up in chains. The inn belonged to the mother of a soldier he killed in battle, a relative of the Greek emperor, who now wanted to take revenge for the death of her son. However, he was freed by his opponent Leone himself, who addressed him by the name Erminio. He had admired him on the battlefield for his bravery and did not want to let him perish so ingloriously. Leone now wants his mediation in advertising for Bradamante, which he could not refuse.
Leone asks Ruggiero, who he still thinks is Erminio, whether it is true that Bradamante is in love with Ruggiero. This is a dangerous rival. Ruggiero confirms it, but reassures him that he will respect him as his (Erminios) friend. He secretly suffers from the conflict between his friendship with Leone and his love for Bradamante.
The imperial apartment
Bradamante asks Carlo Magno for help. She does not want to be married to a man who is inferior to her in martial arts. In order to rule this out, they jointly decide that any candidates must hold a duel against them for a specified period of time.
Second act
A lovely area in the royal gardens
Ottone announces the arrival of Leone to Carlo. This one is ready to fight Bradamante. Carlo fears that he could lose, which would not be a good sign for the negotiations with the Greeks. After Carlo leaves, Bradamante arrives. Leone declares his love for her, but she merely points out the necessary fight.
Clotilde tells Bradamante that Ruggiero has reappeared and that Ottone has already spoken to him. Ruggiero comes himself now. He tells of his rescue by the generosity of Leones and asks Bradamante to accept him as bridegroom. Bradamante is horrified and leaves him angry. Ruggiero sends Clotilde after her to explain that he loves her and that he himself suffers badly from having to give her up. Now Leone rushes in. He knows that he has no chance in the fight against Bradamante and asks Ruggiero to fight in his place in disguise. Ruggiero cannot refuse.
Third act
Room in Bradamante's apartment with a balcony overlooking the gardens and the surrounding squares
The duel is over. Clotilde assumes that Leone has lost and is already mourning her former lover. Then Ottone comes and reports that Leone unexpectedly won. Bradamante did not fight with full force at first. But after she had suffered a small wound, she no longer showed any consideration. Leone, however, held out until the agreed time had expired. Clotilde regrets that Bradamante and Ruggiero are now forever separated. She sends Ottone to Ruggiero to give him comfort. Bradamante arrives, deeply ashamed, and angrily throws away her weapons. She sends Clotilde away to be alone. Ruggiero, however, comes to her and assures her of his love. He wants to make up with her and then die. However, she feels abandoned by him and does not want to listen to him. Only when he threatens to stab himself in front of her eyes is she ready. However, they are interrupted by Clotilde, who reports to Bradamante that the emperor wants to speak to her. After she leaves, Ruggiero tells Clotilde how desperate he is and leaves too.
Leone comes to Clotilde in search of Bradamante. She informs him about Erminios true identity and emphasizes the sacrifice he made for him. Leone admires Ruggiero's generosity.
Illuminated gallery
Clotilde complains to Ottone of her suffering because of her lost love for Leone. Emperor Carlo and Bradamante join them. Carlo is impressed by Ruggiero's actions. Leone and Ruggiero are also coming. Leone points out that he legitimately won Bradamante. But now he asks her to shake hands with Ruggiero. He explains that during the fight, the weapons were his, but not the fighting strength. In reality, Ruggiero fought with her in his place. He asks for forgiveness for his mistakes, which have not yet been fully uncovered. Before he fell in love with Bradamante, he had already promised Clotilde his heart. He asks forgiveness for this too. This is granted and at the end of the opera Emperor Carlo unites the two couples Ruggiero and Bradamante as well as Clotilde and Leone.
history
Ariosto's Versepos Orlando furioso had already been processed several times in other dramas before Metastasio. Those who have certain parallels with Ruggiero include the three Bradamante works by Robert Garnier (1582), Gautier de Costes de La Calprenède (1637) and Thomas Corneille (1695) as well as the libretti of the same name by Pietro Paolo Bissari (1650, set to music by Francesco Cavalli ) and Pierre-Charles Roy (1707). Neither Corneille's tragedy nor Metastasio's libretto proved successful. It is believed that the theme of a fight between a knight and a warrior did not correspond to the taste of the time. In the case of Ruggiero , there was also the fact that the plot had some similarities with his earlier libretti L'olimpiade and Nitteti and could therefore be regarded as old-fashioned. The setting by the old Johann Adolf Hasse with its abundance of recitatives may also have contributed to this assessment. For both Metastasio and Hasse, the Ruggiero was the end of their life's work.
Metastasio had already written a first version of the libretto at the request of Empress Maria Theresa . It should be on the occasion of the wedding of Marie Antoinette with the Dauphin of France, the later Louis XVI. , to be performed on May 16, 1770. This also gave rise to the theme of the opera, which should be in the tradition of French chivalric dramas. Metastasio, however, did not feel quite up to the task and only reluctantly agreed to Maria Theresa out of a sense of duty. After a while, he finally broke off the work, and the court abandoned the original plan for the performance. Nevertheless, Maria Theresa insisted on the completion of the libretto and kept it for her own edification. When the wedding of her son Ferdinand to Maria Beatrice d'Este was approaching the following year , she ordered Metastasio to revise it for the performance on October 16, 1771 in Milan. Her favorite composer, Hasse, who had been associated with the imperial court for more than thirty years, was commissioned to compose the music. He was already 71 years old and plagued by gout, so that he could hardly write. He had also turned away from composing theater music in order to devote the rest of his life to church music. He had also noticed that musical tastes had changed and that his style no longer corresponded to them. Nevertheless, he accepted the order and at the end of August 1771, accompanied by his daughter Pepina and his old servant Franz, traveled from Venice to Milan with a letter from the Empress to her future daughter-in-law.
The celebrations continued throughout October. As a contrast to Hasse's opera, the Serenata Ascanio in Alba by fifteen-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was planned - his second opera written for Milan. The main roles in both works were taken on by the soprano Antonia Maria Girelli Aguilar , the castrato Giovanni Manzuoli and the tenor Giuseppe Tibaldi . They were all among the greatest singing virtuosos of their time, but had already passed the zenith of their careers. The sets came from the brothers Bernardino , Fabrizio and Giovanni Antonio Galliari . The first performance of Mozart's Serenata took place on October 17, 1771, the day after the first performance of Ruggiero , and achieved a far greater success. Allegedly, Hasse is said to have said: “ Questo ragazzo ci farà dimenticar tutti ” (German: “This boy will make us all forget.”) The authenticity of this saying is doubted. However, it is undisputed that Hasse admitted his failure, as can be seen from a letter dated October 30: “ Il mio Ruggiero ebbe la prima sera tutte quelle fatalità che possono unirvi per far torto ad una produione teatrale. ”(German:“ On the first evening, my Ruggiero suffered all the misfortunes that can unite to bring down a theater production. ”) Due to an illness of the prima donna Girelli, the opera was canceled after the fourth performance. After the failure of the performances, Maria Theresia showed sympathy for Hasse. She invited him to an audience with his daughter in December and made a generous gift.
On January 20, 1772, there was a subsequent performance at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, for which Hasse revised the score slightly again. The main difference was that the final scene was replaced with a ballet.
Settings
The following composers used this libretto for an opera:
| year | composer | premiere | Performance location | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1771 | Johann Adolph Hasse | 16th October 1771, Teatro Regio Ducale | Milan | also on January 20, 1772 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples |
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| 1820 | Antonio Gandini | 4th November 1820, Teatro di Corte | Modena |
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Discography
A recording of the opera by Johann Adolph Hasse with the Ensemble Musica Rara under the direction of Arnold Bosman was released on CD in 2000. The singers were Robert Chafin , Silvia Bossa , Gianluca Belfiori Doro , Alla Simonishvilli , Barbara Vignudelli and Mauro Bonfanti .
Web links
- Several different versions of the libretto as full text (Italian) on progettometastasio.it.
- Table of contents and libretto as full text (Italian) on librettidopera.it , accessed on December 5, 2014.
Digital copies
- ^ Johann Anton Koch: The abbot Peter Metastasio Kayserl. Royal Court Poet's Dramatic Poems, translated from Italian. Seventh volume. Krauss, Frankfurt and Leipzig in 1775 as digitization at the Munich digitization center .
- ^ A b c Libretto (Italian) of the opera by Johann Adolph Hasse, Milan 1771 as digitized version in the Internet Archive .
- ↑ Score of the opera by Johann Adolph Hasse, 1771 as digitized version with the International Music Score Library Project .
- ^ Libretto (Italian) of the opera by Antonio Gandini, Modena 1820. Digitized in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Don Neville: Ruggiero (ii). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ Metastasio, Pietro in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart , p. 50861 ff (cf. MGG vol. 9, p. 229 ff.) Bärenreiter-Verlag 1986 ( digital library volume 60).
- ↑ IL RUGGIERO. Work details and performance dates of the opera by Johann Adolph Hasse at operabaroque.fr (French), accessed on December 5, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d Mariangela Donà: Il Ruggiero. Review of the opera by Johann Adolph Hasse on musicarara.org (English), accessed on December 5, 2014.
- ^ Carl Mennicke: Hasse and the Graun Brothers as Symphony Orchestra , p. 433 ff ( online at Google Books).
- ^ Ruggiero ovvero L'eroica gratitudine (Johann Adolph Hasse) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on December 5, 2014.
- ^ Ruggiero, ossia L'eroica gratitudine (Antonio Gandini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on December 5, 2014.
- ↑ Sound carrier ( memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on the Hasse-Gesellschaft Bergedorf website, accessed on December 10, 2014.