Montezuma (Graun)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Original title: | Montezuma |
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Scene with prison from the 3rd act |
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| Shape: | Opera seria |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Carl Heinrich Graun |
| Libretto : | Friedrich II. (French), Giampetro Tagliazucchi (Italian) |
| Premiere: | January 6, 1755 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin , Royal Court Opera |
| Playing time: | approx. 2½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Mexico at the time of Emperor Moctezuma II , 1520. |
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Montezuma is an opera seria in three acts by Carl Heinrich Graun . The libretto was written in French by the Prussian King Frederick the Great and converted into an Italian libretto version by Giampetro Tagliazucchi .
action
The opera describes how the Spanish conquerors under Hernán Cortés deceived the Aztec emperor Montezuma and took him captive. Although Montezuma's bride drafts a rescue plan, all efforts to find a peaceful solution fail and the emperor is killed.
Motivation for the opera
In the opera, Frederick the Great describes a counter-image to himself. His libretto vividly demonstrates what happens to an area of power that does not protect itself sufficiently militarily and is friendly to foreign armies. A better argument for its own military armament could hardly be found. Just one year after the premiere of Montezuma in Berlin in 1755, the Prussian king invaded Saxony in 1756 to forestall an attack by the neighboring allied states on Prussia.
Performances
The title role and a few other roles were originally written for castrati voices ; today they are sung either by a female mezzo-soprano or alto, or by a countertenor .
The singers of the premiere were:
- Montezuma - Giovanni Tedeschi called "Amadori" ( mezzo-soprano - castrato )
- Eupaforice - Giovanna Astrua ( soprano )
- Erissena - Giovanna Gasparini (soprano)
- Tezeuco - Antonio Romani ( tenor )
- Pilpatoè - Paolo Bedeschi, called "Paolino" ( old castrato)
- Hernán Cortés - Antonio Uberti, called " Porporino " (old castrato)
- Narvès - Martinengo (old castrato)
After the death of Frederick the Great, the work was seldom performed; the opera was not shown again until the king's three hundredth birthday in 2012, for example in the New Palace in Potsdam and in the State Opera in the Schillertheater in Berlin.
Recordings / sound carriers
1966 Richard Bonynge ; London Philharmonic Orchestra
Montezuma: Lauris Elms
Erissena: Elizabeth Harwood
Eupaforice: Joan Sutherland
Tezeuco: Joseph Ward
Pilpatoè: Rae Woodland
Hernán Cortés: Monica Sinclair
Decca 6.35516 (2 LP) / Decca 448 977 2 (CD)
1992 Johannes Goritzki; Cantica Nova Chamber Choir, Soloist
Ensemble of the German Chamber Academy
Montezuma: Encarnación Vázquez
Erissena: Angélica Uribe Sánchez
Eupaforice: Dorothea Wirtz
Tezeuco: Conchita Julian
Pilpatoè: Lourdes Ambríz
Hernán Cortés: Maria Luisa Tamez
Narvès: Maria Luisa Tamez Narvès
3-246 Studio)
literature
- Ulrich Schreiber: Advanced Opera Guide - The History of Music Theater . Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-7618-1859-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ montezuma
- ↑ dculture
- ↑ Friedrichs Montezuma , State Institute for Music Research, Prussian Cultural Heritage (accessed on August 12, 2020)
- ↑ magazin.klassik
Web links
- Mandatory freestyle for F II at Kultur-Extra
- Graun's heroic opera “Montezuma”. Report on a production by the Festival Theater der Welt 2010
- Review / Opera; Graun's 'Montezuma' report on a 1988 production, New York Times
- Frederick's Montezuma. Power and senses in the Prussian court opera. Special exhibition of the Musical Instrument Museum of the State Institute for Music Research in Berlin 2012