La costanza vince l'inganno
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Persistence defeats fraud |
| Original title: | La costanza vince l'inganno |
Italian title page of the libretto from 1719 |
|
| Shape: | Pastoral in three acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Christoph Graupner |
| Premiere: | 1715 |
| Place of premiere: | Darmstadt |
| Place and time of the action: | Arcadia |
| people | |
La Costanza vince l'inganno is a baroque - Opera ( Pastoral ) in three acts by Christoph Graupner . The first performance took place in Darmstadt in 1715 . In 1719 the work was performed there again in a revised form. The overture and ballet music in the second version come from Graupner's employer, Landgrave Ernst Ludwig von Hessen-Darmstadt .
action
first act
Silvia is in love with Tirsis. She explains to her former lover Amintas that she is no longer interested in him. Amintas laments his fate, but remains loyal to Silvia.
Atalanta , daughter of the ruler of Arcadia, has taken the name Cloris and is fishing on a river bank. Meleagro , the Prince of the Tessalonian Empire, disguised himself as a hunter and introduces himself to her by the name Tirsis. The two immediately fall in love, but do not admit it to each other yet. Instead, they decide to carve the name of the loved one into the bark of an oak tree. Before that happens, however, the two are interrupted by Silvia and Atalanta leaves. Silvia fears that Tirsis could be in love with Cloris. Yet she confesses her love for him and is rejected.
The scorned Silvia decides to take revenge on Tirsis. His confidante Alindo comes in handy for this. When she fakes her love for him, he is happy about it.
Atalanta writes the name “Tirsis” in the bark of an oak. Silvia has observed this, removes the name and uses "Amintas" instead. When she sees Tirsis coming, she moves away. Meleagro now comes to write the name of his beloved in the bark as well. When he reads “Amintas” there, he has doubts at first, but then believes that she only wants to put him to the test. He writes the name "Cloris" in the bark.
Silvia is happy about her revenge. In the meantime she has also replaced the name “Cloris” with “Silvia”. When Amintas declares his love for her again, she furiously chases him away. Amintas breaks with her.
Meleagro, Amintas, Alindo go hunting together with other nymphs and hunters.
Second act
Cloris comes back to the tree and finds the name "Silvia" scratched into it. Tirsis asks her for a declaration of love. When she reproaches him for having written a name other than hers, they check the bark and discover the forgeries. Before they can say the names originally written, however, they are interrupted again by Silvia, who asks them to start the hunt. Atalanta is on its way. Silvia advertises again for Meleagro, but this rejects her with clear words: “I can never not ley you […] I don't want you; I do not like you; and when you ask me / you just make me crazy. "
Silvia doesn't give up. She asks Alindo, who is now in love with her, to spy on Cloris and Tirsis and gives him false hopes.
Tirsis confesses his love to Cloris. Actually he had come to this area to meet his fiancé Atalanta, whom he had never seen before, but now he had lost all interest in her. Cloris tells him he won't lose her by marrying Atalanta. He doubts it and now calls her his real name Meleagro. Atalanta now also reveals itself. As a token of their mutual love, Atalanta would like to give him her bow. He wants to give her his arrow for it. But before they publicly announce this and their association, they want to make a sacrifice first. The gifts should then be delivered by Alindo.
When Amintas and Silvia come by, Meleagro and Atalanta hope that these two will find each other too.
Third act
Meleagro instructs Alindo to bring Cloris the arrow. However, he decides to show the arrow to Silvia. Since Atalanta is just coming, he first hides the arrow behind the trees. Atalanta was already looking for Alindo. She gives him the bow so that he can bring it to Tirsis.
Alindo shows Silvia the bow and arrow. She persuades him to let her do both. Then she gives him Aminta's bow as alleged proof of her love again. He just shouldn't tell anyone about it.
Meleagro waits longingly for Alindo, who is supposed to bring him Atalanta's bow. When he comes without the bow, Meleagro becomes jealous. Now Amintas comes with the bow. He admits it is a pledge of love, but refuses to reveal the name of his loved one. Meleagro feels betrayed by Atalanta, Alindo by Silvia.
Atalanta waits in vain for Tirsis. Then she sees Amintas with the bow and asks him where he got it from. He also replies to her that it is a gift. Alindo arrives and Atalanta asks him what he did with the bow. He tells her about Silvia's deception.
Meleagro doubts Atalanta. She finds him and tells him about Silvia's intrigue. When Silvia comes by, they hide to overhear her. Silvia is loudly happy about her apparently successful ruse. Atalanta and Meleagro now come out of their hiding place and accuse them.
Silvia explains to Amintas that she just wanted to test his loyalty. However, he no longer believes her and renounces her. Silvia, now scorned by everyone, desperately decides to kill herself with Meleager's arrow.
Amintas has learned the news of Tirsis 'and Cloris' real identities and their upcoming wedding. Secretly, he is still in love with Silvia. Alindo calls him for help to dissuade Silvia from her planned suicide.
Meleagro and Atalanta are having fun together when the deeply saddened Silvia comes by. She has been saved and asks forgiveness from the others. Amintas also asks Meleagro for forgiveness and finally gives him the bow. Meleagro and Atalanta forgive everyone. Silvia should also not be credited for her actions because of her tears. She will now marry Amintas.
Performance history
After the performances of 1715 and 1719, only partial performances are documented from more recent times.
In 2000 in Darmstadt a CD with the overture, interludes and arias was made from a concert recording. Karl-Heinz Hüttenberger directed the chamber ensemble of the Allschlaraffische Symphonie-Orchester. Sigrun Haaser (Atalanta / Cloris), Alexandra Steinhauer (Silvia), Iris Fink (Amintas), Friedrich von Mansberg (Alindo) and Peter Alexander Herwig (Meleagro / Tirsis) sang.
On February 16, 2009, excerpts from the opera were performed in the Salle Pierre-Mercure in Montréal . Geneviève Soly directed the ensemble Les Idées heureuses . Tracy Smith Bessette (soprano) and Normand Richard (bass) sang .
Web links
- La costanza vince l'inganno : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Score as a digitized version in the digital collections of the University and State Library Darmstadt (ULB).
- Libretto of the version from 1719 as digitized version in the Wolfenbütteler Digital Library (WDB) of the Herzog August Library .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Data record for the CD La costanza vince l´inganno in the Bielefeld Classic Catalog , accessed on September 4, 2014.
- ↑ Description of the work and performance history in operabaroque (French), accessed on September 4, 2014.