El : dramatica para representarse en el Real Coliseo del Buen-Retiro por orden de Su Magestad Catholica . . . D. Fernando VI en este año MDCCLII. Il Siroe: opera drammatica da rappresentarsi nel Regio Teatro del Buon-Retiro per comando di Sua Maiestà Cattolica. BC Marés I 723; Palau 166.875. (: Lorenzo Mojados, 1752). in Italian and Castilian on facing pages: leaf of shield of Ferdinand VI recto, verso blank; 2pp. titles; 4pp. Dedications signed by (psued. of Carlo Broschi); 4pp. plot; 2pp. actors; 2pp. scenic design; 2pp. musicians; pp. 20-169 texts. Errors in pagination: pp. 21 and 23 numbered 19 and 21 respectively. Signatures: 4, B-X4, H3 for H2. Ornaments in text. Printed in Quarto (5 1/2 x 8”). Contemporary publisher’s binding for Buen Retiro libretti of this period. Worn at corners, scuffed, spine heel and crown chipped. Internally clean and fine.

Under the direction of Farinelli

El Siroe. Dramma per musica en 3 actes. Madrid, Buen Retiro, May 30, 1752. (Subirá, 17). Libretto for this opera presented for the first time for Ferdinand VI and royalty at the Buen Retiro, Royal theatre, Madrid. Set at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the plot is based on Persian sources and with the fictional additions of Metastasio. The work is set in 626 AD, as aging Persian King Cosroe nears the end of his reign while the Persian people are rising up against him because of his long and costly war with Christian Byzantium. King Cosroe wishes to install his ambitious son Medarse as heir to the throne instead of his first- born son, Siroe. Princess Emira is living at court, disguised as a man (Idapsie). Long ago her father was murdered by Cosroe and now she intends to kill him. She is also Siroe’s secret lover, although he refuses to help her with her plans for vengeance. King Cosroe’s mistress, Laodice, tries to seduce Siroe, but he rejects her advances. Offended, Laodice suggests to Cosroe that Siroe has seduced her. Siroe is jailed and threatened with execution. When the situation for Siroe seems hopeless, Emira desperately frees herself from disguise, and reveals to the king that she, not Siroe, is attempting to murder him. Then Laodice confesses that Siroe has not made any attempt to seduce her. In the end, the people rise up in support of the rightful crown prince; King Cosroe is jailed and killed; Siroe and Emira are united. Siroe as an opera was very popular in the 18th century, with the story set to music by prominent composers like in in 1726, by in in 1727, by Georg Frideric Handel in 1728, and later by in Reggio Emilio in 1733. The bibliographer of Italian opera libretti Sartori (22064-22132) lists 68 published libretti from throughout the Italian peninsula from 1727 through 1764. Also, some from as far away as London, Lisbon, Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel, Copenhagen, and--most importantly--Spain.

The music for this setting of Siroe is by Nicola Conforto (1718-1793). He studied music in his hometown at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto (music conservatories of Naples), under the tutorship of John Whistles and Francesco Mancini. After receiving his musical training, Conforto made his debut during the carnival of 1746 in Naples as an opera composer with La Finta Vedova [The False Widow]. In 1751, he wrote the cantata [The Hesperides Gardens] in honor of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. He was so successful that in 1751 Farinelli commissioned Conforto to compose a setting of Metastastio’s La Festa Cinese. The next year, he was commissioned to celebrate the name day of the Spanish king Ferdinand VI on May 30, 1752; he presented the drama Siroe. So popular, he was named compositore d’opera di corte [composer of the work of the court]. “Conforto wrote brilliant, pleasing melodies, in the manner of other Italian composers of the period. In collaboration with the famous Farinelli (1705-1782), who was then the manager of the court theatre at and Buen Retiro. Conforto played an important part in establishing the taste for Italian opera in Spain” (Sadie IV, 638). The opera was under the direction of Farinelli. For this event, the “original music by did not please Farinelli, so he commissioned Conforto to write a new score” (Stoudemire, 187). Farinelli was well acquainted with the work. In London, Farinelli sang the leading role in Siroe (music by Hasse; text by Metastasio) at the King’s Theatre on November 23, 1735; then on January 1, 1736 before the Queen and all the royal family; then again on the 1st, 4th, and 8th of March 1735 (Scouten). Following the 1735-1736 seasons, Farinelli went to Spain where he stayed for 25 years. His impact on opera in Spain was immense. While he was never allowed to sing before the public again, Farinelli became an uber-impresario, planning, managing and controlling all aspects of performances in Madrid and also at Arajuez. Farinelli is one of the principal reasons for the “deep rooting of Italian opera in the Iberian peninsula” (Stoudemire, 185). Concerning the plot: the historical Siroe (Shîrûyih Qubàd/Kavadh II) was a minor ruler of Sasanian Empire in the 7th century, at the end of the war with Byzantine. He was the elder son of the Persian king Khosrau II. Siroe died from plague after a few months’ reign on September 6,

2 628. Not only was he short-lived, but he may have murdered his father and seventeen siblings. He was succeeded by his eight-year-old son Ardashir III. Why is this character and, indeed, the overall subject matter of the Sasanian court and its intrigues important in the Christian West? How did it become the subject of an opera performed all over Europe, with music set by numerous composers, including Handel in London? In 18th-century Europe, Siroe was a heroic model of filial piety, integrity, strength, and beauty. Siroe is credited with ending the 25 year-long war with Byzantium, freeing all enemy soldiers and returning priceless Christian relics, including the True Cross, taken from Jerusalem a century earlier. In this opera, Siroe is threatened with disinheritance in favor of his younger brother, Medarse, by his father because of Siroe’s Cordelia-like refusal to take a loyalty oath (Bryson). The poet Metastasio creates an idealized dramatic context to explore the morals of filial respect, political duty, virtuous kingship, and how these can be compromised by the conflicting passions of love, lust, and envy. However, according to the important modern historian Parvaneh Pourshariati, Siroe was quite different He may not have murdered his father, and he was not made king at all. Since he was so young, the minister Zàd Farrukh (Farrukhzàd) seemed to be actually running affairs as regent (154). Pourshariati records one set of traditions that has Farrukhzàd as the primary instigator of Khustow II’s death with Siroe made king but under control of the ministers (note 949). The murder of seventeen of his brothers is said to have been instigated by Farrukhzàd himself. Siroe’s powerlessness, rather than his nobility is apparent in the decision-making process that led to the Byzantine-Sasanian peace treaty in 628, which brought thirty years of warfare to end. The historical Siroe is depicted in some Persian sources as a womanizer. Siroe, interestingly, is the main character in the medieval romance of Shîrin and Farhàd (by the poet Nizami Ganjavi [1141-1209]), where Shîrin’s suitor Farhàd, was an architect at Khusrow II Parvîz’s court (note 945). Parts of this popular legend may have been the basis for the Laodice character in the opera. Overall the Madrid 1752 El Siroe is significant for several reasons, in spite of the often used dramatic devices of lovers separated then reunited after adversary, of women disguised, and of an evil ruler who must be overthrown: First, the handsome subject of the heroic, Persian matter was important and popular in the 18th century. While this opera fell out of favor in the 19th century, it is now being revived with recordings and performance from different settings. Secondly, if one wants to study the impact of Farinelli on Spanish opera, El Siroe is a good place to do it. Finally, the development of opera forms in the New World, especially in Mexico and Peru in this period, was indebted to opera from Spain, which was popular among the nobility and government officials in the Spanish colonies. In the future, as more data is found as to the actual performances, like Siroe may find their place in the transatlantic movement of Spanish music.

3 References: Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750. NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980; Bryson, David. Music Review. https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer- reviews/RIDRLT9WHTYAX?ASIN=B0001DI74W; Scouten, Arthur H., ed. The London Stage, 1660-1800, Part III (1729-1747). Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1961. Norwich, John Julius. A Short History of Byzantium (1999); Pourshariati, Parvaneh. Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran (2018); Sadie, Stanley, ed. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Washington D.C.: Grove’s Dictionaries of Music, 1980; Stoudemire, Sterling A. “Metastasio in Spain.” Hispanic Review 9, no. 1 (January 1941): 184- 191; Subirá, José. Variadas Versiones de Libretos Operiìsticos. Madrid: CSIC, 1973; Locations: OCLC: BNM, RIV, HGN. No North American locations.

$2,500.00

4