Il quadro animato
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| Title: | Il quadro animato |
| Shape: | Cantata a due voci |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Georg Christoph Wagenseil |
| Libretto : | Pietro Metastasio |
| Premiere: | August 18, 1760 |
| Place of premiere: | Goldegg |
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Il quadro animato (German: Das Lebende Bild ) is a libretto for a cantata for two voices by Pietro Metastasio . It was performed on August 18, 1760 in the setting by Georg Christoph Wagenseil to welcome Maria Theresa in Goldegg .
action
«All 'alzarsi della tenda presentava tutto il teatro un gran quadro ornato della sua proporzionata cornice. Si esprimeva in esso un ameno, e ridente paese con vari Villani, e Villanelle situati in diverse graceful attitudini; ma tutti immobili ed imitanti pittura. In tale stato rimanevano le figure per quasi tutto il corso della Sinfonia, verso il fine della quale acquistavano poi a poco a poco e moto, e vita: e finalmente parlavano. Su questo pensiere, a lui autorevolmente somministrato, scrisse per comando l 'Autore il seguente componimento. "
“When the curtain is raised, the entire theater presents a large picture that is adorned by its frame. It depicts a lovely and cheerful landscape with various peasants who adopt different graceful postures, but all immobile and like a painting. The characters remain in this state throughout the course of the sinfonia until, towards the end of the symphonia, they gradually move and enliven and finally speak. The author wrote the following work on this thought, which he was commanded to command. "
After the end of the introductory sinfonia, the figures shown come to life. One of the farmers involved expressed her astonishment at the unexpected transformation and the new life. A second peasant woman explains this with the presence of the Empress ( “La fausta, e venerata / Presenza Augusta” ) and the expected arrival of the Princess of Lorraine ( “il sospirato arrivo / Della Ninfa Real” ). Both finally realize that they owe their creator ( "agli autori / Dell 'esser nostro" ) thanks and ask heaven in a duet for a blessing for the empress.
history
Metastasio wrote Il quadro animato in 1760 for a performance in Goldegg , the residence of Prince Johann Wilhelm Trautson . Karoline of Lorraine (“la Principessa Carolina di Lorena”) was invited to the wedding of the Austrian heir to the throne, Joseph II, with Isabella von Bourbon-Parma on September 5. Maria Theresa traveled to meet her with her court to meet her in Goldegg. They were welcomed there by Prince Trautson with a performance of this cantata. In the foreword, Metastasio pointed out that the idea of the living image had been “imperiously commanded”. Presumably it came from Karoline Trautson, the Prince's third wife, who had a particular fondness for theater and music, often staged small plays and had commissioned the Serenata La gara from Metastasio as early as 1755 . The music for Il quadro animato came from the court composer Georg Christoph Wagenseil , who was also the piano teacher of Maria Theresa's five daughters. It was performed by the subjects of the Prince of Goldegg.
The fashion of the living image emerged in the second half of the 18th century. As a link between the pictorial and the scenic representation in connection with the ideal of social harmony and a utopian vision of reality, it received a special meaning with the theater theorists of the time like Denis Diderot . Metastasio, however, is not just a simple depiction of a shepherd's landscape in the Rococo style; he also integrates the image into his own reflections on life and theater, as he did in his Serenata Le cinesi in 1735 . Here he recalls the origins of the theater. The pictorial characters are transformed into theater characters and, thanks to the poet's imagination, acquire a life of their own. In a second step, the fictional theater reality turns into the real reality of court life when the characters realize the reason for their existence. The artistic creation thus appears as a metaphor of royal power.
Digital copies
- ↑ a b Libretto (Italian) as digitized version at the Munich Digitization Center . In: Opere del signor abate Pietro Metastasio , Volume 11, Herissant, Paris 1782, pp. 247 ff.
Individual evidence
- ^ Don Neville: Metastasio [Trapassi], Pietro (Antonio Domenico Bonaventura). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ^ A b c Jacques Joly: Les fêtes théâtrales de Métastase à la cour de Vienne, 1731–1767. Pu Blaise Pascal, 1978, ISBN 978-2845160194 , pp. 347-350. ( partly online at Google Books).
- ↑ Christine Wiedlack: The Trautson. Two generations of clients at Trautson. Diploma thesis of the University of Vienna , 2011, p. 12 (PDF).
- ^ Johann Wilhelm, the last Trautson on Goldegg. In: Pfarre Neidling informs of September 2011, p. 9 f.