L'Arianna

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Work data
Title: Arianna
Original title: L'Arianna
Title page of the libretto, Mantua 1608

Title page of the libretto, Mantua 1608

Shape: Tragedia in one act
Original language: Italian
Music: Claudio Monteverdi
Libretto : Ottavio Rinuccini
Literary source: Greek mythology
Premiere: May 28, 1608
Place of premiere: Mantua, court theater
Place and time of the action: Shore of the island of Naxos , mythical time
people

L'Arianna is an opera (original name: "tragedia", SV 291) in one act by Claudio Monteverdi . The libretto is by Ottavio Rinuccini . It is based on the Greek legend about Ariadne and Theseus . The work was premiered on May 28, 1608 in the Mantua court theater on the occasion of the wedding celebrations of Prince Francesco de Gonzaga with Margherita of Savoy . Most of the work is lost. Only the famous Lamento d'Arianna, an expression of sadness and abandonment, has survived .

action

After Ariadne has been abandoned by Theseus, she wants to end her life in the waters of the sea. Fishermen save her life; but the desperate one cannot be grateful to them. Inconsolable, she agrees to the complaint: "Let me die!"

The individual scenes are not numbered in the preserved libretto. The musicologist Ulrich Michels divided the work into a prologue and eight scenes. At librettidopera.it and in the reconstruction by Claudio Cavina , it consists of eleven scenes.

Scene 1. The god Apollo ( Apollon ) greets the bride and groom, on whose occasion the opera is performed in Mantua in 1608, and gets those present in the mood for the sweet sounds of the following performance.

Scene 2. The goddess of love Venere ( Venus ) has called her son Amore ( Cupid ) to her. She briefly tells him the story of Arianna ( Ariadne ) and Teseo ( Theseus ). The two have just escaped from the Minotaur's labyrinth and will seek refuge in Naxos . Venus already knows that Teseo will leave Arianna. Her despair will be so great that she wants to put an end to her life. To prevent this from happening, Amor is said to intensify Teseo's love so much that he will not be able to leave without Arianna. Teseo's ships can already be seen in the distance. The couple step onto the shore and Venus portrays the beauty and dignity of Arianna to her son. Cupid wants to go invisibly to those who arrive to carry out the plan.

Scene 3. After landing, Teseo's soldiers praise their king's exploits. Teseo announces that they will soon be able to return to their homeland. Only Arianna suffers from the fact that she will not see her parents again because she entered into the relationship with Teseo against their will. Teseo wants to take her to Athens as queen. While the soldiers stay with the ships, Teseo and Arianna and an advisor go ashore. There you see a fisherman's hut.

Scene 4. Fishermen sing about the beauty of the evening sky and their well-deserved evening. The counselor explains to Teseo that his relationship with the homeless refugee woman Arianna is not befitting. The Athenians would be indignant about this and his well-deserved glory would fade. Despite his great love for Arianna, Teseo is finally persuaded to leave secretly that evening without her. The counselor comforts him with the fact that Heaven will see to it that she can return happily to her homeland. The fishermen greet the dawning with their singing.

Scene 5. The next morning, Arianna misses her lover Teseo. Your hostess Dorilla first tries to reassure her that he might want to inspect the ships or the sea at the port without waking her. The other fishermen also try to comfort them.

Scene 6. A messenger reports indignantly to the fishermen that Teseo and the ships have actually gone. The abandoned Arianna cried and cursed on the bank. After all, she threw herself madly into the waters to kill herself, but was rescued by fishermen.

Scene 7. The deeply desperate Arianna complains to the fishermen in the well-known lament of their suffering - interrupted several times by sympathetic interjections from the fishermen. Dorilla points out that noises can be heard again on the beach. Perhaps Teseo had come back and came back to her. Arianna doesn't believe in it. The choir commemorates the loyalty of Orpheus , who followed his wife into the realm of the dead.

Scene 8. A second messenger appears. He reports that the ships on the bank were not the Teseos. Instead, the glorious Bacco ( Bacchus ) had arrived, fell in love with Arianna, who was in tears, and immediately found love thanks to Cupid's help.

Scene 9. The soldiers of Bacchus extol the couple's love. Cupid points to his own power, and Arianna calls on everyone to rejoice with her, because "beyond any human longing, the heart is blessed that has a God for consolation".

Scene 10. Venus rises from the sea and encourages Arianna to enjoy love.

Scene 11. Giove ( Jupiter ) opens the sky to invite his descendants to rest after a varied life in his kingdom. Bacchus promises Arianna that they will live happily ever after among the gods.

Work history

Claudio Monteverdi had worked at the court in Mantua since 1590 and had held the position of court conductor there from 1601. His first opera L'Orfeo was premiered there in 1607 . Their success was so overwhelming that Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga asked him to compose a new opera on the occasion of the wedding celebrations of his son Francesco and Margherita of Savoy, planned for the Carnival season 1608 . H. a tragedy with music (“tragedia […] in musica”). The wedding itself was postponed for a few months for political reasons so that the celebrations lasted from May 24th to June 8th, 1608.

The wedding was an important political event that had to be celebrated accordingly. Silke Leopold enumerated: “Court balls, plays, fireworks and other grandiosities follow one another closely: on May 28, L'Arianna, on May 29 in the morning a hunting trip, in the evening a comedy, on May 30, excursions, on May 31 a night festival on the lake, on June 1st a court ball, on June 2nd Guarini's comedy 'L'Idropica' with prologue and intermediates by Gabriello Chiabrera, for which Monteverdi and four other composers wrote the music, on June 3rd a tournament play entitled Il trionfo dell'onore [music by Gagliano ], on June 4th Rinuccini's Ballo delle Ingrate [music by Monteverdi], on June 5th a Balletto d'Ifigenia [music by Gagliano] ”. The aim of the great effort was to make the festivities as pompous as possible in order to emphasize the importance of the Duchy of Mantua compared to the mighty House of Savoy . At the same time, it shows the intention to surpass the fame of the Medici , whose festivals of 1589 (including the performance of the Intermedien for La pellegrina ) and 1600 (world premiere by Jacopo Peris Euridice ) had set the standard so far. Although Vincenzo had excellent artists at his own court, he also hired the librettist Ottavio Rinuccini from Florence, who contributed the libretto for L'Arianna and other pieces, and Marco da Gagliano , the composer of a new setting of Rinuccini's opera libretto La Dafne . It was not without envy. In Florence, another poet, who had given himself hope, reviled Rinuccini's abilities, and Monteverdi complained in writing about Gagliano's high fee, which exceeded his own many times over. In order to fill the gap created by the postponement, La Dafne was already played during the carnival season, so that Monteverdi came into play as the main composer during the actual celebrations. The display of their own power in relation to Savoy did not succeed completely, however, because the bride's father, Duke Charles Emanuel I , did not appear himself, but merely sent his two sons to Mantua. Years later, Monteverdi still complained bitterly about the high workload.

Rinuccini arrived in Mantua on October 23, 1607, after which Monteverdi probably began to compose. Francesco's sister, the Duchess Eleonora Gonzaga , saw L'Arianna at an early rehearsal. She found the text too "dry" and ordered the librettist to make the plot more entertaining.

L'Arianna was played on May 28, 1608 in the court theater in Mantua, which had been completed shortly before by Antonio Maria Vianini and which, according to various estimates, could accommodate 4,000 or 6,000 spectators. The performance lasted almost two and a half hours. It was reserved for foreign guests with a copper pass. Modena residents were not allowed in. However, the guard had difficulty getting the crowd under control, so the prince had to intervene personally.

Virginia Ramponi Andreini ("La Florinda") sang the title role at the premiere. She was an actress and singer in a Commedia dell'arte troupe and only stepped in after the death of the originally planned Caterina Martinelli . The Almanacco by Gherardo Casaglia names Settimia Caccini (Venere / Apollo), Sabina Rossi “Madama Europa” (Dorilla), Sante Orlandi (Tirsi), Antonio Brandi “Il Brandino” (Teseo), Francesco Rasi (Bacco), Bassano as other performers Casola (Giove) and Francesco Campagnolo (consigliere / messaggero).

The envoy Modenas reported to his employer that her lament, accompanied by violas and lament, "made many cry". A singer named "Rasi" also sang divinely, but next to her everyone else appeared "like nothing". According to a report by Federico Follino, there was not a lady in the house who had not shed a tear. Marco da Gagliano made a similar statement in the preface of his Dafne. The big impression the piece made was due in part to the circumstances of the performance. Never before had an opera found such a large audience. The Andreini's acting skills also contributed to this. Silke Leopold wrote that, above all, "the plot, scene and music for the representation of an individual fate have never before merged into such a unit as in this self-contained picture, even without a choreographic system" - comparable only to the lamentation from Monteverdi's Orfeo . Unlike in Peris Euridice , the characters were not only depicted in "sophisticated rhetoric", but as truly living and suffering people. The affects of pain and sadness, musically represented by tense intervals and harmonies, aroused corresponding feelings in the listeners.

A year after the performance, Monteverdi had a print of his Orfeo made . For unknown reasons, he did not receive a copy of Arianna . From later letters, however, it can be seen that he was reluctant to think back to the circumstances of the performance. Most of the music was lost over time.

The only surviving piece of the opera (in arrangements), the Lamento d'Arianna, became the model for the musical genre of the lamento . This piece was already considered by Monteverdi himself to be the “heart of the opera” (“La più essential parte dell'opera”), as a letter dated March 20, 1620 shows. It may have entered the opera late to showcase the Andreini's skills. He published it separately in three different versions: in 1614 as a five-part madrigal in his sixth book of madrigals, 1623 as Monodie for voice with basso and 1640/1641 with a spiritual text under the title Pianto della Madonna in the collection spirituale morale Selva e . None of these arrangements contain the original fishermen's choirs and string accompaniment.

The comparison with the Dafne shows that Rinuccini made the "turn from pastoral to tragic" for the first time. Although the choir still plays an important role here, one essential difference is the dramatically emphasized role of the title character.

In December 1613, Prince Francesco de 'Medici asked Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga for a copy of Arianna. In 1620 Monteverdi tried to get another performance of the work in Mantua, for which he wanted to revise it. It was not until the carnival season 1639/1640 that there was a new production for the opening of the Teatro San Moisè in Venice.

Several contemporary printed versions of L'Arianna's textbook have survived:

  • 1608: Mantua (Aurelio & Ludovico Osanna)
  • 1608: Mantua (Heredi di Francesco Osanna)
  • 1608: Florence (Giunti)
  • 1608: Venice (Giunti, Ciotti & compagni)
  • 1622: Venice (Ghirardo et Iseppo Imberti)
  • after 1630: Rome (?)
  • 1633: Ancona (GF Gundulić), Croatian translation for a possibly planned performance in Dubrovnik, division into five acts
  • 1639: Venice (Angelo Salvadori), published without naming the composer and most likely without his consent.
  • 1640: Venice (Bariletti), with full names of the authors.

Reconstructions and new settings

The English composer Alexander Goehr composed a new version of the opera in 1994/1995 for a more modern instrumental line-up including saxophones and extensive percussion . It was premiered on September 15, 1995 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in a production by Francesca Zambello . Alison Chitty was responsible for the set and costumes. Ivor Bolton was the musical director . The singers were Anna Maria Panzarella (Amore), Susan Graham (Arianna), Sheila Nadler (Venere / Dorilla), Axel Köhler (Bacco), J. Patrick Raftery (Teseo), Timothy Robinson (Soldato Primo / Pescatore), Christopher Ventris ( Soldato Secondo / Pescatore), David Wilson-Johnson (Consigliero / Pescatore), Gidon Saks (Soldato / Percatore / Giove) and Dan Long (Soldato / Pescatore). A little later a CD of the work was released with the Arianna Ensemble under the direction of William Lacey with Ruby Philogene in the title role. In this setting, Monteverdi's only slightly modified lament forms the center.

Claudio Cavina , the artistic director of the Italian ensemble “La Venexiana”, presented a reconstruction of the complete opera in 2015, for which he used excerpts from other works by Monteverdi (for example the Scherzi musicali from 1607 or the Ballo delle ingrate ) and composed additional parts . In doing so, he was guided by the early Monteverdi style. He added the fishing choirs mentioned in the libretto and the protagonist's concluding “sigh” to the lament, as well as the accompaniment of violas and violins mentioned in the contemporary report. For the instrumentation he followed the ball delle ingrate and did without wind instruments. A first concert performance in a restricted private setting for the approx. 230 participants in the event "Monteverdi in Venice - the four operas" was shown on November 4, 2015 under Cavina's direction in the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista with Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli in the title role . The public premiere took place on June 1, 2018 in concert in the Orchesterzentrum NRW as part of the Dortmund music festival "Klangvokal". Davide Pozzi was the musical director. It sang Fulvio Bettini (Apollo, the first messenger and Bacchus), Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli (Venere), Filippo Mineccia (Amore), Riccardo Pisani (Teseo), Raffaella Milanesi (Arianna), Alessio Tosi (second messenger), Luca Dordolo (consultant) , Emanuela Galli (Dorilla), Salvo Vitale (Jupiter), Carlotta Colombo (first girl) and Vittoria Giacobazzi (second girl).

The "Lamento d'Arianna"

{\ new PianoStaff << \ new Staff {\ clef violin \ key c \ major \ time 8/4 r4 a'4 bes'2. f'4 f'4. e'8 e'2 e'2 r4 b'4 cis''4. cis''8 d''2 r4 f'4 e'2 d'2} \ addlyrics {La - scia - te - mi mo - ri - re, la - scia - te - mi mo - ri - re} \ new Staff {\ clef bass \ key c \ major \ time 8/4 a, 2 a, 2 g, 2 g, 2 a, 1 g, 2 f, 4 e, 4 d , 2 g, 2 a, 2 d2} \ figures {<_> 1 <_-> 2 <_> 2 <_> 1 <_> 1 <_> 2 <_-> 2} >>}
Beginning of the lament in the first edition from 1623

The lament is divided into five monological sections. In addition to Arianna, in the original opera version, her host Dorilla and the local fishermen are on stage, commenting on the lament similar to the chorus of ancient drama. For the setting, Monteverdi used the stile rappresentativo ("performing style"). It is an expressive solo song ( monody ), which depicts the changing emotional states of the protagonist through the course of the vocal melody and the harmony sequence. The melody is closely related to the language. The rhythm results from the text and the respective degree of excitement, and keys and dissonances are also aligned with the text content. The basic key is D minor (also the major variant), which corresponds to the tragedy of the text. All sections end in this key. The first part ("Lasciatemi morire") shows Arianna's death wish. For a brief moment she seeks consolation from the fishermen, but they cannot give it to her (“In van lingua mortale in van porge conforto”). In the second part she turns directly to the absent Teseo ("O Teseo, o Teseo mio") and accuses him of leaving them to wild animals, although she had given up her home because of him. Here contrasting key and rhythm changes stand for the contrast between Teseo's happiness and Arianna's suffering. The fishermen show compassion ("Ahi! Che 'l cor mi si Spezza"). In the third part ("Dove, dove è la fede") Arianna compares Teseo's promises with his actions. The harmony here is particularly varied. The key of E flat major appears here for the only time, and there is a sequence of eight different keys within four bars. The choir indicates the futility of their pleading (“Vinta da l'aspro duolo”). In the fourth part, Arianna's anger builds into a curse (“Ahi, che non pur risponde”), in which she calls on the forces of nature to sink his ship. Dramatic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic contrasts make this clear until Arianna is terrified of herself and remembers her love again. The fishermen are impressed by their unshakable love (“Verace amor, degno ch'il mondo ammiri!”). In the last part, Arianna finally recognizes the futility of her hope (“Misera, ancor do loco a la tradita speme”). She regrets her excessive love and gullibility. In the same scene of the opera, Dorilla's consoling words and Arianna's desperate counter-words follow, before the arrival of Bacchus leads to the next scene.

Ulrich Michels assigns the keys used in the Lamento to the following affects in a simplified manner (Monteverdi differentiates much more finely):

  • D minor with A minor and major variants: “Overall situation”; Doric : heroic or serious; hypoaeolian : sad
  • G minor: "the wretched Arianna, weeping"; hypodoric : sad, miserable
  • E major: "the screaming, distressed Arianna"; Phrygian : plaintive, painful
  • C major: “Nature, strength, z. B. Theseus, favorable winds ”; ionic : cheerful, dance-like
  • F major: "Shine, Fame, Right, Parents"; Lydian or Hypoionic
  • G major: "Pride, hope, luck, festivals, but also nature: storm, wind"; Mixolydian : exuberant, happy, (perverted) beauty of nature, threat, anger

literature

  • Ulrich Michels: The “Lamento d'Arianna” by Claudio Monteverdi. In: Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, Reinhold Brinkmann (Hrsg.): Analyzes: Contributions to a problem history of composing… Issue 23. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1984, ISBN 3-515-03662-8 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  • Bojan Bujić: Rinuccini the craftsman: A view of his L'Arianna. In: Early Music History 18 of October 1999, pp. 75-117, doi: 10.1017 / S0261127900001844 .

Web links

Commons : L'Arianna  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ In some publications, Margherita's sister Isabella of Savoy is incorrectly named as Francesco's bride, who was married to Alfonso d'Este three days after her sister's wedding .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhart von Westerman , Karl Schumann: Knaurs Opernführer. Droemersche Verlagsanstalt Th. Knaur Nachf., Munich 1957, 1969, ISBN 3-426-07216-5 , pp. 14-15.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Ulrich Michels: The "Lamento d'Arianna" by Claudio Monteverdi. In: Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, Reinhold Brinkmann (Hrsg.): Analyzes: Contributions to a problem history of composing… Issue 23. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1984, ISBN 3-515-03662-8 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  3. ↑ a b c d Thomas Schmoll (collaboration: Andrea Affaticati): L'Arianna. Program of the music festival "Klangvokal" from June 1st, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Arnold Feil : Metzler Musik Chronik. JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1993, ISBN 3-476-00929-7 , pp. 184-185.
  5. ^ A b c Silke Leopold : Musical theater at the time of Monteverdi. In: Matthias Brzoska , Michael Heinemann (ed.): The history of music. Volume 1. 2nd edition. Laaber, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-932412-60-5 , p. 279.
  6. ↑ a b Silke Leopold : The opera in the 17th century (= manual of musical genres. Volume 11). Laaber, 2004, ISBN 3-89007-134-1 .
  7. ^ A b c d e Tim Carter, Geoffrey Chew:  Monteverdi, Claudio. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  8. ^ A b Alois Maria Nagler: Theater Festivals of the Medici 1539–1637. Da Capo Press, New York 1976, ISBN 0-306-70779-9 . Reprinted from Yale University's 1964 edition, pp. 177–179 (Chapter "Intermezzi in Mantua - 1608").
  9. ↑ May 28, 1608: “Arianna”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
  10. ↑ Silke Leopold : La Dafna. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , p. 307.
  11. ^ A b c Ellen Rosand: Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice - The Creation of a Genre. University of California Press, Berkeley 1991/2007, ISBN 978-0-520-25426-8 , p. 19.
  12. ↑ Reclam's Opernlexikon (= digital library . Volume 52). Philipp Reclam jun. at Directmedia, Berlin 2001, p. 169.
  13. ↑ a b c Bojan Bujić: Rinuccini the craftsman: A view of his L'Arianna. In: Early Music History 18 of October 1999, pp. 75-117, doi: 10.1017 / S0261127900001844 .
  14. ^ L'Arianna (libretto, Mantua 1608) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  15. ^ L'Arianna (Libretto, Florence 1608) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  16. ^ L'Arianna (libretto, Venice 1622) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  17. ^ L'Arianna (libretto, Rome (?) After 1630) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  18. ^ L'Arianna (libretto, Venice 1639) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  19. ^ L'Arianna (libretto, Venice 1640) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  20. ↑ Information on the work of Alexander Goehr's Arianna from Schott Music , accessed on June 11, 2018.
  21. ↑ Michael Oliver: Review of the CD Arianna by Alexander Goehr (NMC NMCD054) on Gramophone , 9/1998, accessed on June 11, 2018.
  22. ↑ a b Thomas Schmoll: In the spirit of the master. In: Opernwelt, January 2016, p. 76.
  23. ^ Brochure from "Monteverdi in Venice - the four operas" at ISSUU, accessed on June 11, 2018.