L'isola disabitata (Metastasio)

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Work data
Title: L'isola disabitata
Title page of the libretto from 1753 (music by Giuseppe Bonno)

Title page of the libretto from 1753
(music by Giuseppe Bonno)

Shape: Azione per musica
Original language: Italian
Music: First setting by Giuseppe Bonno
Libretto : Pietro Metastasio
Premiere: May 31, 1753
Place of premiere: Aranjuez
people
  • Costanza , wife of Gernando
  • Silvia , Costanza's younger sister
  • Enrico , Gernando's companion
  • Gernando , husband of Costanza

L'isola disabitata (German: "the uninhabited island") is a libretto for an azione per musica in one act by Pietro Metastasio . It was first performed in the setting by Giuseppe Bonno on May 31, 1753 on the name day of King Ferdinand VI. of Spain in Aranjuez. The most famous of the almost forty settings is by Joseph Haydn .

action

The history of the action is described in the textbook as follows:

“The young Gernando went with his young wife Constanceia, and her sister, who was still a child, on ships to visit his father in the West Indies, who presided over part of it as governor, and was caught in a persistent and dangerous storm forced to land on an uninhabited island in order to give the child and the consort the convenience of being able to rest on land from the movements of the sea voyage.

Meanwhile, while they were enjoying a gentle rest in a hidden grotto, which offered them a comfortable and convenient stay, the unfortunate Gernando, along with some of his entourage, was attacked, kidnapped, and at the by a large group of barbaric pirates who unfortunately landed there Made slaves. His companions, who saw the run-up from the ship, albeit indistinctly, and believed no other than that, with Gernando at the same time, child and wife had also been stolen, hunted the robbers, but soon lost them from sight and sat so, sad and heartbroken, continue their interrupted journey.

When the unhappy Constanceia awoke, and had long looked in vain for her husband and the ship that brought her there, she believed herself, like Ariadne, betrayed and abandoned by her Gernando.

When the first intensities of her hopeless pain began to give way to the natural love for life, she decided, according to her prudence, to seek all means to eke out her life in this deserted absence from all living. For a long time she supported herself and her sister from the herbs and fruits which the land frequently produced, and breathed in all the hatred and disgust that she had felt for all men, of the little innocent people whom they did not know.

After thirteen years of slavery, Gernando managed to set himself free. His first concern was to return to the island where he had left his Constanceia against his will; although without any hope of finding her still alive. "

- Pietro Metastasio : Foreword from the libretto of the setting by Joseph Haydn, Berlin 1786

The following table of contents is based on the libretto of the setting by Joseph Haydn.

First part

Scene 1. Costanza, who is left alone with her little sister Silvia on the lonely island, chisels a message into the rock. She does not know that her husband Gernando was kidnapped by pirates and believes that he was deliberately abandoned. Therefore she asks any hikers to avenge her after her death.

Scene 2. Silvia comes and happily tells her sister that her missing pet - a deer - has appeared again. Costanza cannot share her joy. After thirteen years of solitude, she has given up hope of ever returning to her homeland. Silvia doesn't understand why she wants to go back to where the hostile men live. However, she cannot calm her sister down. She mourns her misfortune in an aria.

Scene 3. Silvia sees a ship on the sea and hides in the bushes.

Scene 4. Gernando, who has been freed from slavery, and his companion Enrico come ashore to look for Costanza and Silvia. Gernando moves away to start searching on the other side of the island.

Scene 5. Enrico ponders the fate of his friend Gernando, to whom he owes his freedom. He is being watched by Silvia.

Scene 6. Silvia, who has never seen a man before, wonders what kind of creature that was. Since it didn't look cruel, it couldn't be a man. But a woman would have worn a skirt. In an aria, she wonders about the new feeling that the sight has awakened in her.

Second part

Scene 7. Gernando's search has so far been in vain. When he wanted to rest, he saw the message of Costanza in the rock. Enrico joins them. Because the text is still unfinished, they believe that Costanza died without being able to finish it. Gernandos expresses his grief in an aria. He goes.

Scene 8. Enrico and Silvia meet. When he admits that he is a man, Silvia begs him for mercy in fear. However, Enrico can calm her down and asks her where and when Costanza died. Both feel drawn to each other. After Silvia tells him that Costanza is still alive, Enrico sets out to tell Gernando.

Scene 9. Silvia doesn't understand why she has to think so much about Enrico. In her aria she compares the fire in her heart with steam that rises towards the sun.

Scene 10. Costanza laments her fate in an aria. She wants to finish her inscription in the rock now.

Scene 11. Gernando finds Costanza on the rock. Costanza faints. Gernando goes to the nearby stream to fetch water.

Scene 12. Enrico finds the unconscious Costanza. After she wakes up, he explains the fate of Gernando to her. Costanza is ashamed of having wrongly mistaken him for a traitor.

Scene 13. Gernando and Silvia join them. The spouses embrace. Enrico asks Silvia to marry him. However, she fears having to live alone like Costanza. Only when Costanza has explained her mistake, she agrees and declares her love to Enrico.

history

The idea for the work comes from Metastasio's friend, singer Farinelli , who wanted to perform it at the court of Madrid. In two letters dated November 6, 1751 and October 20, 1752, Metastasio apologized for the fact that he would a. could not yet meet for health reasons. In contrast to many of his other works, he took a lot of time with L'isola disabitata . Although he had composed exclusively for the Viennese court for 22 years, he was not forbidden from accepting other commissions. It was finally completed on March 15, 1753, and he considered it one of his most successful works. In his opinion, it contained in a single act all the encounters and passions that otherwise fill a long drama ( "tutti gl'incontri e tutte le passioni che riempirebbero abbondantemente la misura di un lungo dramma" ). It offers an interesting topic and new characters and can move both laughs and tears.

In L'isola disabitata, Metastasio took up the theme of the happy innocence of primitive people, a motif that had spread widely since Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe of 1719. His works from 1750 to 1752 also show an aversion to the Enlightenment and the encyclopedists . In return, he developed his ideal of the virtuous ruler who had to devote himself to the well-being of his subjects. Radical changes in the structure of society are not necessary. L'isola disabitata , however, is not a simple praise of happiness in nature as opposed to civilization. This is counteracted by an irony inherent in the work. The contrast is made clear by the different characterization of the two sisters, which is also expressed in their names Silvia ("mistress of the forest") and Costanza ("the constant one"). For Silvia the island offers everything she needs for happiness. Besides her sister, her affection is only for her deer. Costanza, on the other hand, misses civilization. Her despair becomes clear right at the beginning in her rock inscription. Even Silvia does not manage to comfort her, because once you are used to the advantages of civilization, you can no longer forget them. This theme is developed not only on a psychological, but also on a theatrical level. Throughout the work there is a contradiction between the words (her hatred of the men) and the feelings of Costanza (her love for Gernando). Silvia is thrown into confusion. Because Costanza believes she was betrayed by Gernando, she taught Silvia to loathe men. As a result, she cannot explain her own feelings for Enrico. Finally Silvia realizes the truth. She prefers him to her deer and she is ready to follow him. Love becomes the best argument for civilization.

In the libretto there are some allusions to the Italian commedia dell'arte , for example in Silvia's humorous description of the approaching ship (“it has wings on its back, and swims and flies at the same time” / “Porta l'ali sul dorso, e nuota, e vola ” ) and in their wonder which species Enrico might belong to. Like Arlequin in Marivaux ' Arlequin poli par l'amour of 1720, she falls in love without even knowing who or what it is. This motif of being in love spontaneously with someone who up to this point believed to be free from it was extremely popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in French theater.

Settings

The following composers set this libretto to music:

year composer premiere Performance location Remarks
1753 Giuseppe Bonno May 31, 1753 Aranjuez on the name day of King Ferdinand VI. from Spain;
also on September 23, 1754 in Hof Palace near Vienna 		Giuseppe Bonno - L'isola disabitata - titlepage of the libretto - Venice 1753.png
1754 Ignaz Holzbauer June 16, 1754 Schwetzingen “Azione per musica” in two acts
1755 Francesco Antonio Uttini 1755, palace theater Drottningholm Palace
1758 Pietro Pompeo Sales January 1758, prince-bishop court of Joseph Ignaz Philipp von Hessen-Darmstadt augsburg "Dramma" or "Singspiel" The Uninhabited Insul Pietro Pompeo Sales - L'isola disabitata - german titlepage of the libretto - Augsburg 1758.png
1760 Giuseppe Sarti 1760 Copenhagen doubtful
1760 Niccolò Jommelli March 13, 1760 London “Azione per musica” in two acts;
also on November 4, 1761 in the palace theater in Ludwigsburg; on March 31, 1780 in Lisbon
1761 Domenico Fischietti probably 1761
1762 Diego Piccinni 1762 Rome
1762 Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur 1762 Rastatt than the desert island
1765 Tommaso Traetta July 27th 1765, Teatro Regio Ducale Nuovo Mantua “Componimento drammatico”;
also on April 26, 1768 at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna; 1772 in the Kongelige Teater in Copenhagen 		Tommaso Traetta - L'isola disabitata - titlepage of the libretto - Mantua 1765.png
1766 Giuseppe Sigismondo 1766 Naples "Opera teatrale"
1767 Davide Perez 1767, Palazzo Queluz Lisbon "Componimento drammatico"
1770 Giuseppe Calegari 1770, accademia privata Padua "Azione teatrale"
1772 Maria Rosa Coccia probably 1773 Music lost
1773 Johann Gottlieb Naumann February 1773 Venice “Azione per musica” in two acts
1773 Gennaro Astarita June 13th 1773, Teatro dell'Accademia degli Ingegnosi Florence "Dramma per musica";
along with Le cinesi listed 		Gennaro Astarita - L'isola disabitata - titlepage of the libretto - Florence 1773.png
1774 Domenico Fischietti 1774 Salzburg "Azione per musica"
1775 Anton, King of Saxony 1775
1775 Antonio Boroni December 31, 1775 Stuttgart? "intermezzo"
1777 Luigi Bologna November 25, 1777 Vienna
1779 Giovan Francesco Garbi 1779, Conservatorio di S. Onofrio Naples unsure
1779 Joseph Schuster 1779, Ranstädter Tor Leipzig "Singspiel" The desert island ;
Libretto edited by August Gottlieb Meißner
1779 Franz Ignaz Beck 1779 Bordeaux "Opéra comique" L'Isle déserte ;
Libretto edited by the Comte d'Ossun
1779 Joseph Haydn December 6, 1779, theater Eszterháza “Azione teatrale” in two acts, Hob.XXVIII: 9;
also in 1786 in the concert of music lovers in Berlin 		Joseph Haydn - L'isola disabitata - titlepage of the libretto - Berlin 1786.png
1780 Josef Willibald Michl 1780 Munich "Azione teatrale"
1780 Giuseppe Millico probably in the 1780s, royal palace Naples? may not be listed
1783 Luigi Gatti January 19, 1783 Salzburg
1783 Bernardo Mengozzi before February 7, 1783, Teatro Santa Maria Florence "Azione teatrale";
revised in August 1789 in Paris
1789 Friedrich Benda probably 1789 Attribution uncertain
1789 Giuseppe Musenga 1789 Attribution uncertain
1792 Giuseppe Lanza Carnival 1792, Teatro Comunale Forlì "Dramma serio"
1794 Gaspare Rugarli 1794 Parma contains the aria Immagini funeste and a duet by Gaspare Spontini
1799 Giovanni Paisiello July 3, 1799, Teatro de Sao Carlos Lisbon "Cantata seria"
1813 Conradin Kreutzer March 25, 1813 Stuttgart Opera in two acts Die Inselanerinnen ;
Libretto edited by Johann Friedrich Schlotterbeck ;
New version on February 11, 1829 in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna
1829 Placido Mandanici 1829, Teatro del Fondo Naples in two acts
1831 Manuel García 1831, private performance London possibly as early as 1824
1932 Nino Rota 1932 "Musiche di scena" Le prime battute di 6 canzoni e un coro per "L'isola disabitata"

Recordings and performances in recent times

literature

  • Jacques Joly: Les fêtes théâtrales de Métastase à la cour de Vienne, 1731–1767. Pu Blaise Pascal, 1978, ISBN 978-2845160194 , p. 265 ff.

Web links

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

Digital copies

  1. ^ Libretto (Italian) of the opera by Giuseppe Bonno, Venice 1753. Digitized in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  2. ^ Libretto (Italian / German) of the Singspiel by Pietro Pompeo Sales, Augsburg 1758 as digitized version at the Munich digitization center .
  3. ^ Libretto (Italian) of the opera by Tommaso Traetta, Mantua 1765. Digitized in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  4. ^ Libretto (Italian) of the Serenata by Tommaso Traetta, Bologna 1768 as digitized version in the Internet Archive .
  5. ^ Libretto (Italian) of the opera by Gennaro Astarita, Florence 1773 as a digitized version in the Internet Archive .
  6. ↑ Libretto (Italian / German) of the Serenata by Joseph Haydn, Berlin 1786 as a digitized version at the Berlin State Library .
  7. ↑ Score of the azione teatrale by Joseph Haydn as digitized version with the International Music Score Library Project .
  8. ↑ Score of the Serenata by Giuseppe Musenga as digitized version in the Internet Culturale portal .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Don Neville:  Metastasio [Trapassi], Pietro (Antonio Domenico Bonaventura). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  2. ↑ a b L'isola disabitata (Giuseppe Bonno) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ a b c Libretto of the opera by Joseph Haydn with a German translation as full text at Zeno.org .
  4. ↑ Joly pp. 265-268
  5. ↑ Joly pp. 268-273
  6. ↑ Joly pp. 273-275
  7. ↑ 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).
  8. ^ L'isola disabitata (Ignaz Holzbauer) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ L'isola disabitata (Francesco Antonio Uttini) at opening night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres , Stanford University, accessed March 26, 2015.
  10. ^ L'isola disabitata (Pietro Pompeo Sales) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  11. ↑ List of stage works by Giuseppe Sarti based on the MGG at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  12. ^ L'isola disabitata (Niccolò Jommelli) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  13. ^ L'isola disabitata (Domenico Fischietti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  14. ↑ L'isola disabitata (Diego Piccinni) at Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres , Stanford University, accessed March 26, 2015.
  15. ↑ L'isola disabitata (Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur) at opening night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres , Stanford University, accessed March 26, 2015.
  16. ^ L'isola disabitata (Tommaso Traetta) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  17. ↑ List of stage works by Giuseppe Sigismondo based on the MGG at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  18. ^ L'isola disabitata (David Perez) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  19. ^ L'isola disabitata (Giuseppe Calegari) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  20. ↑ Maria Rosa Coccia. In: Dizionario Biografico - Treccani , accessed March 26, 2015.
  21. ↑ Denise Gallo:  Coccia, Maria Rosa (born 1759), composer. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  22. ^ L'isola disabitata (Johann Gottlieb Naumann) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  23. ^ L'isola disabitata (Gennaro Astarita) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  24. ^ List of stage works by Domenico Fischietti based on the MGG at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  25. ^ L'isola disabitata (Antonio Boroni) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  26. ^ Library record of the Opera by Luigi Bologna on WorldCat , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  27. ^ Library record of the opera by Giovan Francesco Garbi in the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  28. ^ List of stage works by Joseph Schuster based on the MGG at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  29. ^ List of the stage works by Franz Beck based on the MGG at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  30. ^ L'isola disabitata (Joseph Haydn) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  31. ↑ a b c d e work data for L'isola disabitata by Haydn based on the MGG with discography at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  32. ^ L'isola disabitata (Josef Willibald Michl) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  33. ^ L'isola disabitata (Giuseppe Millico) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  34. ^ Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti. In: Dizionario Biografico - Treccani , accessed March 26, 2015.
  35. ↑ Ernst Hintermaier: Luigi (Maria Baldassare) Gatti (1740-1817). Salzburg's last Hofkapellmeister ( online, PDF ), accessed on March 26, 2015.
  36. ^ L'isola disabitata (Bernardo Mengozzi) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  37. ^ Information on the work of Friedrich Benda's opera in the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  38. ^ Record of the opera by Giuseppe Lanza in the Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  39. ^ L'isola disabitata (Gaspare Rugarli) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  40. ↑ List of stage works by Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini based on the MGG at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  41. ^ L'isola disabitata (Giovanni Paisiello) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  42. ↑ List of stage works by Conradin Kreutzer based on the MGG at Operone, accessed on March 26, 2015.
  43. ^ L'isola disabitata (Placido Mandanici) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  44. ↑ L'isola disabitata (Manuel García) at opening night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres , Stanford University, accessed March 26, 2015.
  45. ↑ José María Latorre: Nino Rota: la imagen de la música. Editorial Montesinos, 1989, ISBN 978-84-7639-103-7 , p. 267 ( online at Google Books ).
  46. ^ Franz Ignaz Beck: "L'isle déserte" at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival 2019. Program information from SWR2 , accessed on January 4, 2020.
  47. ↑ a b L'Isola disabitata (Jommelli) on operabaroque.fr , accessed on March 26, 2015.
  48. ↑ Estreia moderna since ópera "L'Isola Disabitata" de David Perez no Palácio de Queluz. Performance announcement on sapo.pt (Portuguese), accessed on August 7, 2015.