Lucio Silla

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Work data
Title: Lucio Silla
Original language: Italian
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto : Giovanni di Gamerra
Premiere: December 26, 1772
Place of premiere: Milan
Playing time: about 3 hours
Place and time of the action: Rome ; 79 BC Chr.
people
  • Lucio Silla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla) ( tenor )
  • Cecilio, Roman Senator ( soprano , castrato )
  • Giunia, Cecilio's bride (soprano)
  • Lucio Cinna, friend of Cecilio (soprano)
  • Celia, sister of Sillas (soprano)
  • Aufidio, confidante Sillas (tenor)
  • Choir

Lucio Silla ("Lucius Sulla") is an opera seria ( dramma per musica ) in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( KV 135). It is about the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix and his - historically guaranteed - resignation.

Orchestral line-up

2 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 bassoons , 2 horns , 2 trumpets , 2 timpani , strings , harpsichord

action

The action takes place in Rome in 79 BC. Chr .: Cecilio, whom Silla had banished from Rome like many other of his enemies, has secretly returned to Rome to see his bride Giunia again. This is the daughter of Gaius Marius , Silla's mortal enemy. Silla wants to force Giunia to marry him, but she refuses. Cecilio and Giunia meet in secret. Meanwhile, Silla's sister Celia loves Cecilio's friend Cinna. Cecilio wants to murder Silla, but fails and is thrown into prison. There Cecilio and Giunia say goodbye to each other. But Silla finally lets mercy rule: he renounces Giunia and gives her to Cecilio as his wife. Celia and Cinna are also allowed to marry. All exiles can return home, Silla resigns and restores the republic.

music

Lucio Silla is Mozart's second contribution to the genre of opera seria after Mitridate, re di Ponto . The music offers a wide variety of different expressions and characters. At the end of the first act, several numbers are combined into one large scene. Grave and prison scenes gave Mozart the opportunity for extremely individual and expressive music. The choir appears in three places - once in each act.

Emergence

Mozart wrote Lucio Silla for the Milan carnival season in 1773. He received the commission in Verona in March 1771 after the great success of his Mitridate (also in Milan). The text comes from Giovanni di Gamerra (1743–1803), whose predilection for the gruesome and the uncanny - he had his wife's corpse excavated and burned so that her ashes could always be carried with him - is also reflected in the libretto. He sent his text to the old master of the opera seria, Pietro Metastasio , who also made some changes to it. As usual, Mozart wrote the arias for the singers during rehearsals. In view of the singer's limited ability in the title role, Mozart set only two of the four arias intended for Silla to music. Although the opera was a great success, Mozart received no further commissions in Italy.

literature

  • Stefan Kunze: Mozart's operas. Stuttgart 1984.
  • Arnold Werner-Jensen: Reclam's music guide Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Stuttgart 1990.
  • Silke Leopold: Mozart Handbook. Kassel 2005.
  • Research institute for music theater at the University of Bayreuth: Mozart's operas - everything from “Apollo and Hyacinth” to the “Magic Flute”. Piper Verlag, Munich 2005.

Web links