La Calisto
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.La Calisto is an opera by Francesco Cavalli from a libretto by Giovanni Faustini based on the mythological story of Callisto.
The opera received its first performance on 28 November 1651 at the Teatro Sant 'Apollinare, Venice, where it drew limited audiences for its run of eleven performances. In the twentieth century it was successfully revived.
Contents
Libretto
The libretto was published in 1651 by Giuliani and Batti. The story combines two myths: Jupiter's seduction of Calisto, and Diana's adventure with Endymion. The plot is somewhat formulaic: Jane Glover has commented on how the librettist had to invent complications to meet audience expectations in the context of Venetian opera.[1]
Performance history
Faustini, who was an impresario as well as a librettist, rented the Sant 'Apollinare Theatre in 1650. He and Cavalli put on three operas there before his death in December 1651 during the run of La Calisto. The theatre was equipped with complex stage machinery intended to impress the opera audiences with spectacle. However, the eleven performances of La Calisto from 28 November to 31 December 1651 attracted only about 1,200 patrons to a theatre that housed 400.[2]
The manuscript score was preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, allowing La Calisto to be revived in modern times. The first person to publish the score was the British conductor Raymond Leppard in 1975.[3] Leppard had arranged the opera for performance at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1970. This production included a number of then-prominent singers including Janet Baker as Diana. It was significant for creating new audiences for baroque opera. However, the way that Leppard had "realised" (as he termed his orchestrations) the opera was removed from the original work. The recording of the Glyndebourne version has been re-released on compact disc.
The United States premiere of the opera was presented in April 1972 for the dedication of the Patricia Corbett Pavilion at the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music. The cast included Barbara Daniels as Diana and Tom Fox as Jove.[4]
In 2008, Jennifer Williams Brown's edition of the score (A-R Editions, 2007) won the American Musicological Society's Claude V. Palisca award (recognizing outstanding scholarly editions or translations).[5]
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, November 28, 1651 (reconstruction)
|
|---|---|---|
| La Natura | alto | Tomaso Bovi? |
| L'Eternità | soprano | Margarita da Costa? |
| Il Destino | soprano | Catterina Giani |
| Calisto | soprano | Margarita da Costa |
| Giove | bass | Giulio Cesare Donati |
| Diana | soprano | Catterina Giani |
| Endimione | alto | Cristoforo Caresana? |
| Giunone | soprano | Nina dal Pavon |
| Linfea | soprano | Antonia Padovano? |
| Satirino | soprano | Andrea Caresana |
| Mercurio | Baritone | Tenor di Carrara [sic] |
| Pane | alto | Tomaso Bovi? |
| Sylvano | bass | Pellegrino Canner |
Synopsis
The story is based on the myth of Callisto from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Recordings
- Soloists including Janet Baker, James Bowman and Ileana Cotrubaș, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, LPO, Raymond Leppard (Decca, 1971)
- Concerto Vocale, René Jacobs, Marcelo Lippi, Maria Bayo, etc. (Harmonia Mundi, 1996)
- Glimmerglass Opera, Jane Glover (BBC Music, 1996) - extracts from a live performance
References
- Notes
- ↑ Glover, Jane, "The Peak Period of Venetian Public Opera: The 1650s" (1975-1976). Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 102: pp. 67-82.
- ↑ Glixon, Beth L. and Glixon, Jonathan E., "Marco Faustini and Venetian Opera Production in the 1650s: Recent Archival Discoveries", The Journal of Musicology,(Winter 1992),10 (1): pp. 48-73.
- ↑ Cavalli, F., Leppard, R., Faustini, G., Marz, K. R., & Dunn, G. (1975). La Calisto: An Opera in Two Acts With a Prologue. London: Faber Music.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ American Musicological Society. Claude V. Palisca Award Winners.
- Sources
- Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
External links
- Glixon, Beth, Rosand, Ellen, et al, Calisto a le stelle: Cavalli and the Staging of Venetian Opera, Lecture transcripts and video presentation, Gresham College, 22 September 2008.
- La Calisto: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
