La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina

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Opera dates
Title: The liberation of Ruggiero from Alcinas island
Original title: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina
Title page of the libretto, 1625

Title page of the libretto, 1625

Shape: “Balletto” in a prologue and three scenes
Original language: Italian
Music: Francesca Caccini
Libretto : Ferdinando Saracinelli
Literary source: Ludovico Ariosto :
Orlando furioso
Premiere: February 2, 1625
Place of premiere: Villa Poggio Imperiale near Florence
Playing time: about 2 hours
Place and time of the action: The island of Alcina
people

prolog

action

  • Ruggiero (tenor)
  • Alcina, sorceress ( soprano )
  • Melissa, sorceress ( old )
  • Oreste, a messenger (soprano)
  • a shepherd (tenor)
  • a siren (soprano)
  • Astolfo (tenor)
  • a disenchanted noblewoman (soprano)
  • six court ladies Alcinas (6 sopranos)
  • three enchanted plants
    (soprano, 2 tenors)
  • two hellish monsters (alto, bass)
  • Court ladies of Alcinas, enchanted plants, infernal monsters, freed knights (chorus)

La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina (German: "The Liberation of Ruggieros from Alcina's Island") is an opera (original name: "Balletto") in a prologue and three scenes (images) by Francesca Caccini (music) with a libretto by Ferdinando Saracinelli based on an episode from Ludovico Ariosto's versepos Orlando furioso . The work is considered to be the oldest opera composed by a woman. The first performance took place on February 2nd, 1625 in the Villa Poggio Imperiale near Florence.

action

Prologue / first scene: seashore

First scene: Nettuno's entrance

The god Nettuno ( Neptune ) rises from the sea to pay homage to the “son of the Sarmatian king”, the Polish Crown Prince Władysław Sigismund , who is a guest of the Medici in Florence . For this purpose he calls water gods and the river Vistula (“Vistola fiume”). The river god asks Phöbus to arrange the homage musically according to the prince's fame. The others agree to this request, and Nettuno presents the following play in which Ruggiero gives up his love for the “nefarious Alcina”.

Second scene: Alcina's island

Second scene: Alcina's island

The sorceress Alcina has created her own kingdom on her island. There she seduces men and, as soon as she loses interest in them, turns them into stones or plants. The pagan knight Ruggiero fell for her youngest victim. He has forgotten his former heroic life and only gives himself to love. Ruggiero is engaged to Bradamante, the Christian countess of Marseille. Both of you are destined to found the noble family of the Estonians . Therefore, the sorceress Melissa has accepted Bradamante's assignment to free Ruggiero.

At the beginning of the plot, Melissa arrives on Alcina's island riding a dolphin. In order to win Ruggiero's trust and lead him back on his warlike path, she takes the form of his old teacher, the African magician Atlante.

Ruggiero and Alcina appear accompanied by some of Alcina's maidens. The latter rave about the joys of love and congratulate Ruggiero. Ruggiero assures Alcina of his ardent love, and she swears that she will grant him all his wishes. First, however, she must attend to her imperial affairs. Ruggiero should rest in nature for as long. The girls and Ruggiero sing about the beauty of the landscape and love. A shepherd sings a song about his own happy love experiences, and a siren calls for Cupid to follow. Ruggiero falls asleep.

Melissa / Atlante takes the opportunity to approach Ruggiero. It reminds him of the wars raging across Libya and Europe. He should give up his shameful life, face his opponents and win fame. Ruggiero's enchantment is instantly resolved. He asks for forgiveness for his guilt, renounces Alcina and is ready to leave. The men, transformed into plants, beg him to persuade Atlante to release their enchantment and to take her away. Melissa promises to grant this wish.

The cheering of the plants comes to an abrupt end when Alcina returns with her girls and does not find her lover where she had left him. One of the girls tries to calm her down. But then Alcina's confidante Oreste appears as a messenger and reports that she had seen Ruggiero being equipped with weapons of war by a white-haired man. The latter suddenly turned into a majestic woman, identified himself as Melissa and reminded Ruggiero of his lover Bradamante. Ruggiero said that he wanted to leave Alcina. Alcina does not want to let this rest. When Ruggiero wants to say goodbye, she begs him to consider her suffering and her loyalty. However, Ruggiero does not allow himself to be softened by tears or threats. Instead, he asks Melissa to free his friend Astolfo, who has been transformed into a myrtle on the beach. Melissa promises him the rescue of all prisoners, including the noble ladies who were themselves turned into plants in their attempts to rescue them.

Third scene: the burning island

Third scene: the burning island

In her anger at Ruggiero's hard-heartedness, Alcina sets the entire island and sea up in flames. She herself appears in a large ship made of whale bones and summons terrible monsters who brag about their cruelty. Meanwhile, however, Melissa has freed Astolfo and the others. Their power is greater than the Alcinas. It is therefore no problem for her to banish the monsters back to the underworld. Alcina only has to flee. She gets on a ship that transforms into a winged sea monster and flies away with her.

Fourth scene: rocky landscape

Fourth scene: The freed knights and ladies come out of the caves

The island now shows itself in its true bleak form. Melissa reminds the liberated of the misfortune of Alcina, who could not contain her passions. The seductive landscape ultimately turned out to be barren. It invites you to enjoy the happiness you have regained.

This is followed by an elegant dance by the Archduchess' eight ladies with eight knights. One of the disenchanted women complains about her lover who has not yet returned, whereupon Melissa quickly frees the remaining men. A happy knight ballet on horseback follows. Finally, everyone sings the eight-part madrigal “Tosche del sol più belle” - a praise for the beauty of the Tuscan women, who should take the loyalty of the liberated women as an example.

layout

The beginning of the prologue

The actual plot is carried out by only three characters: the seductive, evil sorceress Alcina and the good sorceress Melissa fight for their influence on the young knight Ruggiero. These three main roles sing in the expressive stile recitativo. All other people are practically only used for decoration. Her music is mainly based on strophic forms. The high number of virtuoso vocal numbers and dances is unusual for the early phase of opera. These take place almost exclusively within the magical world, outside of the dramatic events. These include, for example, the appearance of the water spirits in the prologue, the metrically unusual chants of the virgins, the shepherd's song or the virtuoso stanza aria of the siren in French style. The enchanted plants have Sdrucciolo verses with dactylic stress on the third from last syllable. The monsters conjured up by Alcina, on the other hand, mostly sing in Tronco verses, the emphasis of which on the last syllable refers to folk poetry. Alcina herself also adopts this style at the end after her own monstrosity has become apparent. Silke Leopold therefore saw this work as “one of the most important transitional works” for the “final separation of solo chants into recitative and aria”. The instrumental pieces (symphonias and danced ritornelles) also contribute to the festive impression. Stylistically, the choir is given extremely varied tasks: there are both homophonic dance pieces (water gods, Alcina's entourage) and imitation movements (first choir of the enchanted plants, choir of monsters). A double-choir madrigal concludes .

According to the American music historian Suzanne G. Cusick, three scenes have a particularly powerful effect: the supplication of the enchanted plants, consisting of two interwoven stanzas, the heavily decorated stanza aria of the siren and Alcina's complaint that Ruggiero had abandoned her. The two sections positioned between these scenes - Melissa's / Atlantean speech and the description of Ruggiero's departure by the messenger Oreste - are much more reserved and thus give the audience the opportunity to pause for thought.

Cusick noted that Caccini mapped the gender relations of the three main characters through keys. Alcina sings exclusively in "soft" Bb keys, Ruggiero in "hard" sharp keys and Melissa, who appears at times as a man (Astolfo), almost exclusively in the "neutral" C major.

Musicologist Christine Fischer put the spatial conception of the premiere at the center of her research into a performance of the ballet opera at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis . She described the premiere as an exploration of the space of the newly opened Villa Poggio Imperiale near Florence, the widow's residence of the commissioner of the work, the Tuscan Grand Duchess Maria Magdalena of Austria . The horse ballet performed at the end of the performance in front of the villa's portal becomes, in her studies, an integral part of the performance that had previously taken place in the inner courtyard of the Poggio Imperiale: It continues the dramatic plot and focuses it on the transcendental qualities of male-warlike heroism in the service of the Christian faith.

The libretto contains a number of allusions to contemporary politics. Alcina is a symbol of the Turks defeated by the Christian-Polish army. The good fairy Melissa stands for the commissioner of the opera, Maria Magdalena of Austria.

The music of the Ballet of the Disenchanted Ladies and the Horse Ballet of the Knights has not been preserved.

Instrumental line-up

The cast of the opera is only fixed for a few parts. Apart from the basso continuo , Caccini gives a more detailed line-up for the following pieces:

  • Ritornelle of the Shepherd's aria: three flutes
  • Choir of the Enchanted Plants: Colla parte accompaniment with five violas , arcivioles , organo da legno and keyboard instrument
  • In the second ritornello of the same choir: four violas, four trombones , organo da legno and keyboard instrument

Work history

Alfonso Parigi: The Villa Poggio Imperiale, around 1625, probably with a depiction of the Liberazione's horse ballet

La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina bears the generic name "Balletto". This relates to the festive setting in which the work was performed at the grand ducal court of Florence in the 1625 carnival season. The official occasion for the celebrations was a visit by the Polish Crown Prince Władysław Sigismund . The prologue of the opera contains homage to the guest and host. In addition, the Tuscan Grand Duchess personally participated in one of the dances, according to the score. The performance ended with a horse ballet choreographed by Agniolo Ricci. This mixture of tournament and music event was very popular in Florence. It stands in the tradition of the great equestrian games of the 16th century. At the end of the event, the audience was asked to go to the balcony to watch the horse ballet performed in the palace courtyard. This was interrupted again by a character from the opera: Melissa appears in a carriage drawn by centaurs .

The composer Francesca Caccini was the daughter of Giulio Caccini , a composer whose name is inextricably linked with the genesis of the opera genre. She worked from 1600–1627 and 1634–1637 as a highly paid singer and composer at the Medici court in Florence and had probably already participated in the performance of Giacopo Peris Euridice , the oldest surviving opera, in the choir of the nymphs, in 1600 at the age of 13 . She received the commission for the Liberazione from the Tuscan Grand Duchess Maria Magdalena of Austria , who at that time ruled together with her mother-in-law Christine von Lorraine for her underage son Ferdinando II. De 'Medici . At that time, Francesca Caccini already had a name as a composer of vocal chamber music and incidental music. The Liberazione is considered to be the oldest opera composed by a woman.

The libretto was originally supposed to be written by the Florentine court poet Andrea Salvadori . However, since he fell out with the composer, the commission was given to Ferdinando Saracinelli, who had already worked with Francesca Caccini on the ballet Il ballo delle Zingane . The text of the new opera is based on the Alcina episode from Canto 6 to 8 of Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto . This verse epic was well known at the time. Therefore, the librettist was able to dispense with additional explanations about the individual appearing persons. The use of a literary instead of a mythological subject is also an innovation. It is also the first magic opera. The Orlando furioso was later used as a standard source for operatic subjects in the Baroque era. The Alcina theme is best known through Handel's opera Alcina .

The rehearsal phase of the production, personally paid for by the Archduchess, began in December 1624. There were a total of 27 rehearsals, which were supervised by the Archduchess herself. The first performance took place on February 2nd, 1625 in the Villa Poggio Imperiale near Florence. According to the chronicler Cesare Tinghi, the sets and machinery came from Giulio Parigi . The drawings printed in the libretto, however, bear the "inventore" signature of his son Alfonso Parigi. The dedicatee Władysław Sigismund liked the performance so much that in the following year he commissioned another opera, Rinaldo innamorato, from Francesca Caccini , which, however, has not survived - as well as the music of her other stage works, thirteen of which are known by name . In 1628 he let the Liberazione in Poland play in Polish. This was probably the first foreign performance of an Italian opera.

The opera appeared in print in the year of its premiere at Cecconcelli in Florence.

Doris Silbert published a new edition of the opera in 1945 as part of the Smith College Music Archives . A facsimile of the Florentine print was published in 1998 by SPES Florence (Archivium Musicum. Musica Drammatica IV).

Modern performances

Recordings

A complete list of the recordings and available recordings up to 2015 can be found in Christine Fischer's treatise .

  • 1993 - Richard Burchard (conductor), Ars Femina Ensemble.
    James Rittenhouse (Nettuno and Ruggiero), Linda de Rungs (Vistola fiume and Alcina), Cecilia Amorocho (Melissa and Botin).
  • 1996 - Władysław Kłosiewicz (conductor), Warsaw Chamber Opera Orchestra .
    Jerzy Knetig (Nettuno), Marcin Rudzinski (Vistola fiume), Leszek Swidzinski (Ruggiero), Agnieszka Kurowska (Alcina), Dorota Lachowicz (Melissa), Marzanna Rudnicka (Botin), Zdzislaw Kordyjalik (Hirte), Martyene Boberska Jaworski (Astolfo), Aleksandra Bubicz (disenchanted noblewoman).
    Live from the Warsaw Chamber Opera.
    Pro Musica Camerata PMC 012 (1 CD).
  • May 15, 1999 - Gabriel Garrido (conductor), Ensemble Elyma de Genève, Ensemble Vocal Orlando Friborg, Il Ballerino Florence.
    Alain Clément (Nettuno), Ruben Amoretti (Vistola fiume), Furio Zanasi (Ruggiero), Emanuela Galli (Alcina and Sirene), Alicia Borges (Melissa), Haida Housseini (Botin), Alain Bertschy (Shepherd), Nadia Olga Petterson (disenchanted Noblewoman).
    Live from Guin near Freiburg .
  • March 17, 2002 - Gabriel Garrido (conductor), Ensemble Elyma de Genève, Chœur Ensemble Elyma.
    Alain Clément (Nettuno), Stephan van Dyck (Vistola fiume and Astolfo), Furio Zanasi (Ruggiero), Adriana Fernández (Alcina), Alicia Borges (Melissa), Francois-Nicolas Geslot (Shepherd).
    Live, in concert from Paris.
  • January 28, 2016 - Paul Van Nevel (conductor), Huelgas Ensemble.
    Matthew Vine (Nettuno and Astolfo), Bernd Oliver Fröhlich (Vistola fiume and Hirte), Achim Schulz (Ruggiero), Michaela Riener (Alcina), Sabine Lutzenberger (Melissa), Axelle Bernage (Botin), Katelijne Van Laethem (Siren and disenchanted noblewoman ).
    Live from the Augustinian Church in Antwerp.
    DHM (Sony Music, 2 CDs).
  • August / September 2016 - Elena Sartori (conductor), Allabastrina, La Pifarescha.
    Raffaele Giordani (Nettuno and Shepherd), Yiannis Vassilakis (Vistola fiume and Astolfo), Mauro Borgioni (Ruggiero), Elena Biscuola (Alcina), Gabriella Martellacci (Melissa), Emanuela Galli (messenger and disenchanted noblewoman), Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli (Sirius) .
    From the Salone d'Onore di Casa Romei, Ferrara.
    Glossa GCD 923902; AD: 2016.
  • November 10, 2016 - Lorenzo Tozzi (conductor), Romabarocca Ensemble.
    Riccardo Primitivo (baritone), Andrea Romeo (tenor), Nadia Pagliara (soprano), Eleonora Aleotti (soprano), Angelo Bonazzoli (countertenor), Marcella Foranna (mezzo-soprano), Miriam Trevisan (soprano), Alessandra Borin (soprano), Roberto Mattioni (Tenor).
    From the Oratorio del Gonfalone, Rome.
    Bongiovanni 2017.
  • November 11, 2017 - Jean-Marc Aymes (conductor), Concerto Soave.
    Romain Bockler (Nettuno and Ruggiero), Eric Chopin (Vistola fiume), María Cristina Kiehr (Alcina), Sarah Breton (Melissa), Axelle Verner (Botin), Laurent David (Shepherd and Astolfo), Lise Viricel (Siren), Alice Dupont -Percier (disenchanted noblewoman).
    Live from the days of early music in Herne 2017 .
    Broadcast on radio WDR 3 .
  • September 24, 2018 - Paul Van Nevel (conductor), Huelgas Ensemble.
    Achim Schulz (Ruggiero), Perrine Devillers (Alcina), Sabine Lutzenberger (Melissa).
    Live from the Great Hall of the Laeiszhalle Hamburg.
    Broadcast on radio NDR Kultur .

literature

  • Suzanne G. Cusick: Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court. Music and the Circulation of Power. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2009, ISBN 978-0-226-13212-9 , pp. 191-246.
  • Christine Fischer (ed.): La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. Spaces and productions in Francesca Caccini's ballet opera (Florence, 1625) (= intermediate tones 1). Chronos, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-034-01273-7 .

Web links

Commons : La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Suzanne G. Cusick:  Francesca Caccini. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Robert Maschka: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. In: Rudolf Kloiber , Wulf Konold , Robert Maschka: Handbuch der Oper. 9th, expanded, revised edition 2002. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag / Bärenreiter, ISBN 3-423-32526-7 , pp. 89–91.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Silke Leopold : The opera in the 17th century (= manual of the musical genres. Volume 11). Laaber, 2004, ISBN 3-89007-134-1 .
  4. ^ A b c Silke Leopold : La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 1: Works. Abbatini - Donizetti. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-02411-4 , pp. 487-488.
  5. ^ A b Suzanne G. Cusick: Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court. Music and the Circulation of Power. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2009, ISBN 978-0-226-13212-9 .
  6. ↑ a b Uwe Schweikert : “A concert of stories”. In: Opernwelt , June 2010, p. 32.
  7. ↑ a b c d Christine Fischer (ed.): La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. Spaces and productions in Francesca Caccini's ballet opera (Florence, 1625) (= intermediate tones 1). Chronos, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-034-01273-7 .
  8. ↑ a b Ulrike Keil: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. In: Supplement to the CD by Paul Van Nevel.
  9. ^ 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. 137 f.
  10. ↑ Donald Jay Grout, Hermine Weigel Williams: A Short History of Opera. Fourth Edition. Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-11958-5 , p. 61.
  11. ^ Tim Carter: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. In: Amanda Holden (Ed.): The Viking Opera Guide. Viking, London / New York 1993, ISBN 0-670-81292-7 , p. 174.
  12. ↑ Christoph Zimmermann: The eternally feminine? Review of the Cologne performance in 1980. In: Opernwelt 1/1981, p. 41.
  13. ↑ Gerhart Asche: "Above all of historical interest". Review of the Hamburg performance in 1990. In: Opernwelt 12/1990, p. 55.
  14. ↑ Reinhard Kager : Too sugary and too distant. Performance review of the Munich Biennale 1994. In: Opernwelt 7/1994, p. 9.
  15. ↑ Brief history of the days of early music in Regensburg , accessed on April 25, 2018.
  16. ↑ Boris Kehrmann: Dream of a paradisiacal life. Review of the 15th Days of Early Music Regensburg 1999. In: Opernwelt 7/1999, p. 16.
  17. ↑ Francesca Caccini - La liberazione di Ruggiero dall 'isola d'Alcina on the website of the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra, accessed on April 24, 2018.
  18. ↑ Francesca Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggiero on chateauversailles-spectacles.fr, accessed on April 24, 2018.
  19. ↑ Dates 2016 at per-sonat.de, accessed on April 29, 2018.
  20. ↑ International May Festival 2017 at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden - The world in motion ( Memento from April 24, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). In: Theaterkompass, accessed April 24, 2018.
  21. ↑ Thomas Molke: Dominance of Women. In: Online Musik Magazin, accessed April 24, 2018.
  22. ↑ Andreas Falentin: In the labyrinth of sounds and ideas. In: Die Deutsche Bühne , April 21, 2018, accessed on April 24, 2018.
  23. ↑ a b Das Alte Werk - Season opening. in the program of NDR Kultur , accessed on December 18, 2019.
  24. ↑ a b Karsten Steiger: Opera discography. Directory of all audio and video recordings. 2nd, fully updated and expanded task. KG Sauer, Munich 2008/2011, ISBN 978-3-598-11784-8 , pp. 86-87.
  25. ↑ a b c Francesca Caccini. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings (= Zeno.org . Volume 20). Directmedia, Berlin 2005.
  26. ^ Supplement to the CD by Paul Van Nevel
  27. ^ Thomas Seedorf : Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina. CD review. In: Opernwelt , February 2018, p. 22.
  28. ↑ Francesca Caccini: La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'Isola d'Alcina - Alessandra Borin, Marcella Foranna, Riccardo Primitivo, Lorenzo Tozzi, Romabarocca Ensemble at Allmusic, accessed on April 21, 2018.
  29. ↑ Radio program from November 11, 2017 ( memento from April 24, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) on WDR 3 .