Motezuma (de Majo)
| Work data | |
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| Original title: | Motezuma |
Title page of the libretto from 1765 |
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| Shape: | Opera seria |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Gian Francesco de Majo |
| Libretto : | Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi |
| Literary source: | Antonio de Solís |
| Premiere: | Carnival season 1765 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatro Regio , Turin |
| Playing time: | about 3 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Mexico , around 1520 |
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Motezuma (sometimes called Montezuma ) is an opera in three acts by Gian Francesco de Majo ( music ). The libretto wrote Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi after the Historia de la conquista de México from de Antonio Solís . The premiere took place in the Carnival season of 1765 in the Teatro Regio in Turin .
action
The opera is about the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish troops led by the conquistador Hernán Cortés and the surrender of Montezuma , the ruler of the Aztecs .
first act
The Spanish conquerors under Cortes are approaching the Aztec capital. They also have Indian auxiliaries led by Teutile. The Aztec ruler Motezuma was already warned by omens. He greets the newcomers and hands them presents and slaves to please them and avoid war. Among these slaves is his captive adversary, Princess Lisinga, who is in love with Teutile. His own planned wedding with guacosinga is postponed.
After a first lost battle, Motezuma begins peace negotiations with Cortes. Lisinga and Teutile meet again. Lisinga is now also sought after by the Spaniard Pilpatoe, but does not return his love.
Second act
The negotiations are initially proceeding under friendly conditions. The two opponents still distrust each other. Cortes fears an uprising by the Aztecs, and Motezuma still does not know the opponent's actual plans. Cortes asks Motezuma to renounce his "false" gods and to accept the Christian faith. Motezuma agrees to at least think about it. Guacozinga, however, is angry at this request. After Lisinga warned Cortes of a possible popular uprising by the Aztecs, Cortez kept Motezuma as a voluntary hostage in the Spanish camp. Guacozinga swears revenge.
Third act
Although the Aztec uprising has still not started, Guacozinga persuades Pilpatoe to launch a counterattack. Lisinga tries to calm her down and asks her to talk to Motezuma. Teutile has heard of the planned uprising and reported it to Cortes. At first he thinks Motezuma is the instigator and has him arrested. However, since Motezuma's innocence is quickly recognized, he soon releases him. Despite Guacozinga's warnings, Motezuma wants to talk to the insurgents to stop hostilities.
Motezuma was killed by the Aztec people during his address. In his last will, he handed the empire over to the Spaniards and called on Cortes to take revenge. Cortes vows to destroy the enemy and destroy the Aztec temples. However, the city has already been set on fire by Guacozinga himself so that its treasures do not fall into the hands of the Spaniards. Guacozinga eventually kills itself. In contrast to most Baroque operas, the opera ends tragically.
Emergence
In the middle of the 18th century, exotic fabrics were extremely popular on the opera stage. The Montezuma material was edited and set to music several times as a libretto. As early as 1733 Antonio Vivaldi composed his opera Motezuma based on a text by Girolamo Alvise Giusti , and in 1755 King of Prussia Friedrich II wrote a libretto himself, which was set to music by Carl Heinrich Graun under the name Montezuma . The most popular version, however, comes from Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi. In addition to de Majo, it was also set to music by Josef Mysliveček (1771) Giovanni Paisiello (1772), Baldassare Galuppi (1772), Antonio Sacchini (1775), Pasquale Anfossi (1776), Giacomo Insanguine (1780) and Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (1781) .
Performance history
At the world premiere in 1765, Giuseppe Aprile sang the leading roles as Motezuma and Catterina Pilaia as Guacozinga. The names of the other contributors are given in the libretto as follows: Guglielmo Ettore (Cortes), Giuseppe Cicognani (Teutile), Giuditta Lampugnani (Lisinga), Filippo Lorenzini (Pilpatoe).
In 1795 Wilhelm Heinse wrote the three-volume novel Hildegard von Hohenthal in which he presented the history of Italian opera in detail. De Majo's opera Motezuma is described in detail.
In May 2003 the opera was performed again for the first time in the Aschaffenburg City Theater by the Capella della Pieta de 'Turchini . The performance material for this was created by the conductor Antonio Florio . Sergio Vela directed the film . Another performance took place on May 6, 2004 at the Centro di Musica Antica Pietà de 'Turchini in Naples . The singers were Maria Ercolano (Motezuma), Maria Grazia Schiavo (Guacosinga), Roberta Andalò (Lisinga), Makoto Sakurada (Cortes), Dionisia Di Vico (Teutile) and Gabriella Colecchia (Pilpatoe). A recording was broadcast on April 18, 2004 by the radio station Bayern 4 Klassik and on December 11, 2005 by SWR2 .
Web links
- Motezuma (Majo, Giuseppe de) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto as a digitized version at the Bavarian State Library .
- Motezuma (Gian Francesco de Majo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse: Hildegard von Hohenthal as full text at Zeno.org .
- Production information and scenes of the performances in Aschaffenburg and Naples 2003 on the website of the director Sergio Vela , accessed on September 18, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Marita P. McClymonds: Motezuma. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ a b Burkhard Fleckenstein: Motezuma - La conquista des Messico ( Memento from June 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), lecture from October 20, 2006 in the Aschaffenburg Cultural Office with detailed information about de Majo and an overview of the opera Motezuma .
- ^ Dale E. Monson: Cigna-Santi, Vittorio Amedeo. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ Biography of the director Sergio Vela ( memento from June 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at Wolf Artists International, LCC, accessed on September 18, 2014.
- ↑ Performance note on economia.terra.cl , accessed on September 18, 2014.
- ↑ Oper im Radio 2004 on euro-opera.de , accessed on September 18, 2014.
- ↑ Oper im Radio 2005 on euro-opera.de , accessed on September 19, 2014.