Ivaldi N a I V a L D I a Ivaldi
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1 YEAR E 0 S Y AR 0 00 Y 0 S 3 3 E 0 * A 3 * R * S * * A ivaldi Y A I V A L D I A Y N R ivaldi N Y N R N A N R I R S I A V A N E V S E R I V E R S j inter T is is the season of famous Carnival which attracts visitors and evokes excitement of the locals who have been waiting for it all year long. It is usually introduced by the teatri di musica (music theatres) with brilliance equal to the plays performed by the princes. T e one dif er- ence was that whilst the noble ones held the perfomances free of charge, the other events in Venice were paid and became more businesslike, which impacted upon the level of the performance quality. T ese kinds of celebrations might have been observed during birthday parties or weddings at the Court1. T e Venice Carnival, which was a talking point in the whole of Europe, is indeed the accu- mulation of the numbers of games, which were allowed to be played only within that season, unless there were some other special reasons for celebration. In this sort of entartainment you could witness comedies, operas, casino games, ballet, parades, bull f ghts, tightrope dances, puppet shows, and jugglers’ and clown’s performances. At the time, everyone was allowed to wear masks all day long, even at presence of the doges on the last T ursday of Carnival. In the old days, the Carnival would start on the Second Day of Christmas and indeed in most of modern calendars we would f nd this annotation. T e reason why it was eventually postponed by the of cials was because of public safety and the fact that mean people were using masks as disguise in order to take revenge on their enemies at that particular time2. 1 Memorie teatrali di Venezia – Christoforo Ivanovich; fragment from Minerva al tavolino, Venice 1681. 2 Chassebras de Cramailles – Mercure Galant 1683 – translation from Pierre Dortigue de Vaumorière – Lettres sur toutes sortes de sujets, Paris 1714. 2 EN IT FR PL DE T e form of Venetian opera was evoked by baroque aesthe- tics: it demanded richness of impressions, diversity, contrasts, surprises but at the same time full pleasure transmitted from the stage. T at is why the perfect solution was found in weaving in dramatic action mostly including a couple of romantic plots and love af airs. T e public would experience huge range of emotions anger, love, jealousy and loneliness, sorrow and triumph, and so four of the protagonists ware made to go through this whole sca- le of emotions on stage. T is approach allowed the composers to form the music as a multisegmental piece made of the contrasted melodies. We could argue about the advantages and disadvanta- ges of Venetian opera. (…) We need to remember however that we are dealing with mass entertainment repertoire which was highly artistic but not necessarily highly ambitious. Venice on average would present f ve operas per year! Focusing on the plot of the opera from the 2nd half of the XVII c., one could say that it resembles the criminal literature, full of intrigues, suspense and surprises, with the main trigger for all of these being love.3 3 Anna Szweykowska – Wenecki teatr modny, PWM 1981. EN IT FR PL DE 3 i ivaldi opera composer Amongst the genius Italian opera composers we certanly have to admire Antonio Vival- di (born 4 March 1678 in Venice, died 28 July 1741 in Vienna). Even though we associate his name mostly with numbers of instrumental concertos, especially those written for vio- lin, Vivaldi was also a signif cant opera composer. In the letter he wrote to his protector in Ferrara on 2nd January 1737 he mentioned about only 94 operas he composed (Con tutto che al mio nome, et alla mia riputazione mi sta avanti tutta un’Europa, ad ogni modo doppo 94 Opere da me composte, non posso sof rire inconveniente simile)4. Sadly, till now there are only 23 perserved ouvres and among these, 6 are in a fragmentary form. „Ottone in villa” RV 729 was the f rst opera written by Antonio Vivaldi. It was premiered on 17 January 1713 in Vicenza (Teatro delle Garzerie). Stage compositions of the Red Priest (il prete rosso was Vivaldi’s nickname since he turned 25) were performed in Venice, („Orlando fnto pazzo”, November 1714, Teatro Sant’ Angelo), Mantua („Teuzzone”, 26 December 1718, Teatro Arciducale), Milan („La Silvia”, 26 August 1721, Regio Ducal Teatro) and Rome („Er- cole sul Termodonte”, January 1723, Teatro Capranica). In his works, Vivaldi employed librettos of Metastasio and Zena, but personally he preferred the older style of XVII century texts perfectly f tting ‘opere serie’ consisting of three acts. His composing skills were greatly exposed in the overtures, rhythmical ritornellos, intro- ductions for the arias and orchestral accompaniment. According to the practice of that time 4 Reinhard Strohm – „T e Operas of Antonio Vivaldi”, t. I, Firenze 2008, p. 10. 4 EN IT FR PL DE (and also the later one, if we considered Rossini only), Vivaldi would reuse his already made musical material in newly cre- ated operas. One of the examples of this idea can be heard in the overture to the „Dorilla in tempe” RV 709 (premiered on 9 November 1726, Teatro Sant’ Angelo, Venice), based on „La Primavera” from the cycle „Le quattro stagioni” RV 269. Vivaldi was not simply a composer. He would also work in the theatres and aspired to become an opera producer: some- body who would invest his artistic skills, money and time in forming a music theatre. He was also an impresario since 1714 in Teatro Sant’ Angelo in Venice, where his father also used to work. His life work also included presenting operas of other composers. It should be considered that impresario’s job was to invest most of en his own money to produce the show, search and employ the singers and hire or rent a venue with all its equipment. (which mostly was the main reason of the bank- ruptcy). EN IT FR PL DE 5 a atalia Kawalek mezzosoprano An opera singer, born in 1987 in Poland. She started her musical education playing classical guitar. Since 2006 she has studied at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw with professor Izabella Kłosinska and in Rome at Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia (with Rebecca Berg and Sara Mingardo) as part of the Erasmus exchange programme. Currently she contin- ues her studies at the University of Music in Vienna under Professor Claudia Visca. In 2012 she won 3rd price and the Audience Price at the International Baroque Opera Competition Pietro Antonio Cesti in Innsbruck (Austria). She is also the winner of 2nd price and many special awards on Internationaler Hilde Zadek Gesangswettbewerb 2013 in Vienna. From saison 2014/2015 she is a member of Junges Ensemble at T eater an der Wien. Her repertoire is very wide, from the music of late renaissance, through baroque operas and chamber music, to contemporary and experimental projects. Her greatest passion however is opera. T e most signif cant stage appearances were the role of Dido in H. Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” at Alte Musik Festival in Innsbruck in August 2013 and her debut as Duxieme Grecque in T eater an der Wien in the production of Ch.W. Gluck under Alessandro de Marchi with Wiener Symphoniker. Natalia is soloist in european barock ensemble Il Giardino d’Amore. Natalia is supported by the T yll Duerr Stif ung. 6 EN IT FR PL DE EN IT FR PL DE 7 ` iriam Albano mezzosoprano Miriam Albano was born in 1991 in Venice. In her early youth, Miriam began studying violin at the Conservatory of Venice. In 2011, she graduated from that institute in the f eld of Voice (Belcanto) with the highest honours and cum laude, under the guidance of Stella Silva. Shortly af erwards, she sang for the “Festival Galuppi” at the Apollinee Rooms of Teatro La Fenice. In the same year she performed with La Fenice’s Orchestra as a soloist. Later on, she collaborated with the ensemble “Il Gene Barocco” in Switzerland for the New Year Music Festival of Gstaad, singing songs by Monteverdi, Caldara and Vivaldi. In 2012 she portrayed the role of Amor in C.W.Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” at the Teatro Malibran. At la Fenice, she performed for the Festival Mon- teverdi Vivaldi. In 2013 she gave her f rst Lieder Recital for the Artistic Circle of Ducal Palace’s prisons, in Venice. She made her debut as Cherubino in “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn in Vienna. She sang for the Beethoven Center in Vienna. In 2014 she won the second prize in the international singing competition “Ferruccio Tagliavini”, and was a f nalist in the International Osaka Competition 2014. She sang Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in the Scuola Grande of San Marco in Venice with the Vivaldi Orchestra. In Vienna’s Radio Kultur Haus she presented, under the musical direction of Leopold Hager, Les nuits d ìete Op.7 by Hector Berlioz. Miriam Al- bano received the prize of the Centre de Music baroque de Versailles in the 5th International Ba- roque Singing Competition Pietro Antonio Cesti in Innsbruck. Since 2012, she has been perfect- ing her craf under the guidance of Prof. Claudia Visca at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.