La Dafne (Gagliano)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Work data
Title: Dafne
Original title: La Dafne
Title page of the first edition

Title page of the first edition

Shape: Opera ( Favola in Musica ) in a prologue and six scenes
Original language: Italian
Music: Marco da Gagliano
Libretto : Ottavio Rinuccini
Literary source: Daphnesage from Greek mythology
Premiere: February 1608
Place of premiere: Mantua, Palazzo Ducale
Playing time: Around 1 hour
Place and time of the action: Greek mythology
people

La Dafne is an opera in a prologue and six scenes. The music is by Marco da Gagliano , the libretto was written by Ottavio Rinuccini . The first performance took place in 1608 in the Palazzo Ducale of Mantua . The work is a new setting of the material performed 10 years earlier in Florence as the first opera in music history.

History of origin

The first Dafne was written around the Florentine Camerata in the 1590s , and the first performance of this opera, which has only survived in fragments, was probably held in 1598 in the (now so-called) Palazzo Corsi-Tornabuoni. Ottavio Rinuccini wrote the libretto, Jacopo Peri was the main composer. The entrepreneur Jacopo Corsi had also composed some parts, but acted more as a patron and planner. At this point, Marco da Gagliano, who was also from Florence, had not yet finished his training, but his teacher Luca Bati was a member of the Camerata . It is unclear whether Gagliano saw the performance himself in 1598 (or a revival in the following years).

In 1607 Gagliano went from Florence to Mantua. There, Francesco IV. Gonzaga was about to marry Margaret of Savoy . A new setting of Rinuccini's Dafne libretto should be part of the celebration. Due to the bride being late, the opera was performed shortly before the wedding in February 1608 in the Ducal Palace of Mantua. Also Claudio Monteverdi was commissioned to compose for the wedding, his opera L'Arianna , however, came only in May of the same year performed. Another private performance of Gagliano's La Dafne took place in February 1611 for Giovanni de 'Medici (1567–1621) , a son of Cosimo I de' Medici . The Medici were sponsors of Gagliano and the laurel, into which Dafne is transformed, one of their symbols.

action

The story of the Dafne is told in a prologue and an act with six scenes . With only 445 verses, the text is quite short, even for the circumstances at the time. For comparison, Jacopo Peris has 790 verses , first performed Euridice in 1600 . The plot is based on the ancient legend of Daphne from Ovid's Metamorphoses .

  • Prologue: Ovidio appears and tells of Dafne's transformation into a laurel tree and the power of love that Apollo succumbed to despite his divinity.
  • Scene I: The dragon python pursues the nymphs and shepherds . They ask for help from Apollo, who kills the dragon.
  • Scene II: Venere and her son Amore enter and meet Apollo. He is proud to have killed the dragon and mocks the little Amore as a bad marksman. He swears revenge for the insult.
  • Scene III: Dafne meets the shepherds and asks what happened to the dragon. These report on Apollo's work. When he appears, Amore shoots a silver arrow at him, so that he falls in love with the beautiful Dafne. Dafne, however, is struck by a leaden arrow, which has the opposite effect, so that she invokes her chastity.
  • Scene IV: Amore triumphs over the desperate weeping Apollo.
  • Scene V: The messenger Tirsi reports how Dafne was turned into a laurel tree while fleeing from Apollo , so that she remains forever inaccessible to the god.
  • Scene VI: The shepherds and nymphs mourn Dafne's fate together with Apollo. He consecrates the laurel wreath as a sign of both sorrow and victory.

Music & performance practice

Five-part choir from the opera

In contrast to Peris La Dafne from 1598, Gagliano's setting has been preserved in full. The printed score of the opera was published in Florence on October 20, 1608. Stylistically Gagliano elements mix of old already from, Inter Media for La pellegrina known polyphonic style with a certain extent for the genre "opera" newly invented monody . Nevertheless, the choir also has an important role to play in the opera, on the one hand it contributes to parts of the plot, but also reflects them for the audience. Gagliano attaches great importance to the intelligibility of the text. Despite its brevity, the libretto offers the composer several opportunities for effective dramaturgy. This includes, for example, the eighth strophic final chorus Bella Ninfa fuggitiva.

The preface to the print edition is of musical historical importance, as Gagliano gives detailed instructions on performance practice there. He recommends a clear separation of soloists and choir and advises to position the orchestra in front of the stage where the singers can easily see it. At that time it was quite common to position the musicians as "craftsmen" behind the stage and not to disturb the acting impression. In the fight scene with Python, he recommends that Apollo be played by a second actor so that the actual singer is not out of breath during the following aria. It is also interesting to note that the orchestra should play before the opera begins; an overture is not part of the print edition.

The numbers in detail

  1. Prologo - "Da 'fortunati campi" (Ovidio)
  2. Scena prima - "Tra queste ombre segrete" (Pastore I + II / Ninfa I / Tirsi / Choir / Ninfa II)
  3. “Ohimè! che veggio "(choir)
  4. "Pur giaque estinto al fine" (Apollo)
  5. "Almo Dio, che'l carro ardente" (Choir / Ninfe / Tirsi / Pastori)
  6. Scena seconda - "Che tu vadia cercando" (Amore / Apollo / Venere)
  7. "Nudo, Arcier, che l'arco tendi" (choir)
  8. Scena terza - "Per queste piante ombrose" (Dafne / Pastore I / II)
  9. "Ogni ninfa in doglie e'n pianti" (choir)
  10. "Deh come lieto in questo piagge torno" (Apollo / Dafne / Pastore II / Tirsi / Amore / Pastore I)
  11. "Una al pianto in abbandono" (choir)
  12. Scena quarta - "Qual d'ei mortali o d'ei celesti" (Amore / Venere)
  13. "Non si nasconde in selva" (choir)
  14. Scena quinta - "Qual nuova meraviglia" (Tirsi / Pastore I / II)
  15. "Piangete Ninfe" (Ninfa I)
  16. "Sparse più non vedrem di quel fin 'oro" (Pastore I / II)
  17. "Piangete, Ninfe" (Choir / Pastore I)
  18. Scena sesta - "Ma, vedete lui stesso" (Tirsi / Apollo)
  19. Ballo - "Bella Ninfa fuggitiva" (Choir / Amore / Venere / Apollo / Ninfa I + II / Pastore I)

Recordings

literature

  • Domenico Pietropaolo, Mary Ann Parker: The Baroque Libretto: Italian Operas and Oratorios in the Thomas Fisher Library at the University of Toronto . University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2011, ISBN 978-1-4426-4163-1 , pp. 59 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Marco Emanuele: Dafne . In: Piero Gello, Filippo Poletti (eds.): Dizionario dell'opera 2008 . Baldini Castoldi Dalai, Milan 2007, ISBN 978-88-6073-184-5 , p. 279 ( archive.org ).
  • Tim Carter: Dafne, Marco Da Gagliano . In: Amanda Holden (Ed.): The New Penguin Opera Guide . Penguin Putnam, New York 2001, ISBN 0-14-029312-4 , pp. 286 f .
  • Barbara R. Hanning: Dafne . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Opera . tape 1 . Macmillan Publishers, London 1998, ISBN 0-333-73432-7 , pp. 1041 f .
  • Roger Parker (Ed.): The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera . Oxford University Press, London, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-19-816282-7 , pp. 355-360 .
  • Frederick William Sternfeld: The First Printed Opera Libretto . In: Music & Letters . tape 59 , no. 2 . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1978, pp. 121-138 , JSTOR : 734132 .
  • Oscar Sonneck : "Dafne", the First Opera. A Chronological Study . In: Anthologies of the International Music Society . tape 15 , no. 1 . Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1913, p. 102-110 , JSTOR : 929391 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Domenico Pietropaolo, Mary Ann Parker: The Baroque Libretto: Italian Operas and Oratorios in the Thomas Fisher Library at the University of Toronto . University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2011, ISBN 978-1-4426-4163-1 , pp. 59 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Oscar Sonneck : "Dafne", the First Opera. A Chronological Study . In: Anthologies of the International Music Society . tape 15 , no. 1 . Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1913, p. 102-110 , JSTOR : 929391 .
  3. ↑ Barbara R. Hanning: Dafne . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Opera . tape 1 . Macmillan Publishers, London 1998, ISBN 0-333-73432-7 , pp. 1041 f .
  4. ^ Ottavio Rinuccini: La Dafne . In: www.librettidopera.it . No. 126 ( librettidopera.it ).
  5. ↑ Marco Emanuele: Dafne . In: Piero Gello, Filippo Poletti (eds.): Dizionario dell'opera 2008 . Baldini Castoldi Dalai, Milan 2007, ISBN 978-88-6073-184-5 , p. 279 ( archive.org ).
  6. ^ A b Frederick William Sternfeld: The First Printed Opera Libretto . In: Music & Letters . tape 59 , no. 2 . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1978, pp. 123 , JSTOR : 734132 .
  7. ↑ a b Roger Parker (Ed.): The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera . Oxford University Press, London, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-19-816282-7 , pp. 355-360 .