No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Two Outdoor Opera Productions of Giuseppe Galli Bibiena
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2010
Extract
Baroque opera reached a high point in Vienna during the reign of Karl VI as the result of simultaneous developments in the fields of poetry, music, and spectacle. Three successive court poets, Pietro Pariati, Apostolo Zeno, and Pietro Metastasio shared the endeavor of their contemporaries to enrich Italian poetry with a combination of “sonatia verba et antiqua,” and “gravis et decora constructio.” They found operatic libretti particularly well suited for this creative experiment, and Vienna provided the ideal atmosphere of musical sophistication, indispensable for such development. Musical life had flourished under the late Joseph I, who had been an outstanding musician, and the new Emperor was also an able pianist, composer, and occasional conductor.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1964
References
NOTES
1 Fux, Johann Josef, Costanza e fortézza, ed. Wellesz, Egon (Vienna, 1910)Google Scholar, (Denk-mäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, XVII), p. XIII.–Referred to in the following as Wellesz, op. cit.
2 Liess, Andreas, Johann Josef Fux (Vienna, 1948), p. 26.Google Scholar
3 Ibid., p. 31.
4 Gurlitt, Cornelius, Geschichte des Barockstiles in Italien (Stuttgart, 1887), p. 487.Google Scholar See also Kindermann, Heinz, “Das österreichische Barocktheater,” in Maske und Kothurn, VII, 3, (Fall 1961), p. 219.Google Scholar
5 Liess, , op. cit., p. 26.Google Scholar
6 Hadamowsky, Franz, “Barocktheater am Wiener Kaiserhoff, Mit einem Spielplan (1625–1740),” in Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für Wiener Theaterforschung, 1951–1952, pp. 101–102Google Scholar; Liess, , op. cit., p. 47.Google Scholar
7 [Pietro Pariati], Angelica vincitrice di Alcina (Vienna, 1716). The copy in the Library of Congress is incomplete; pp. 8–9, 27–30, and one of the six engravings are lacking.
Lady Montague was one eyewitness; her account is contained in The Works of Alexander Pope…, ed. John W. Croker, (London, 1871–1889), vol. IX, pp. 348–350. It will be referred to as Pope, op. cit.
The account of Giampetro Zanotti, the second eyewitness, is included in his Storia dell'Accademia Clementina di Bologna, (Bologna, 1739), vol. 2, pp. 206–207. (Translations from Pariati and Zanotti are mine.)
8 Pope, , op. cit., p. 349.Google Scholar
9 The missing pp. 8–9 of the libretto must have contained a list of scene changes (the catchword on page 7 is “MU” for Mutazione, a usual feature of libretti). Hadamowsky, , op. cit., pp. 101–102Google Scholar, prints the ambiguous credit: “Tutto l'apparato della Festa per le operazioni, che riguardano la Mecánica, fu principalmenti ideato, e disposto dal Sig. Ferdinando Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena, Ingegniere Teatrale, ed Architetto di S. M. Ces…; e le Scene Apparenze, e Macchine furono vaga invenzione del Sig. Gioseffo Galli-Bibiena, Figlio del sudetto.”
10 Ground plan in Yale-Rockefeller Collection of Theatrical Prints, A. G. 4. 10, and four designs in Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo (Rome, 1954), vol. II, Tav. LXXXVII.
11 Ground plan in Salomon Kleiner, Viererley Vorstellungen … erster Theil, (Augsburg, n. d.), plate V. The measurements are 12 X 46 Klafter, a Klafter being about six feet.
12 These measurements are estimated on the basis of Gregor, Joseph, ed., Denk-mälerdes Theatres, New Series, vol. 1 (Berkeley, Calif., 1954), plate XXIVGoogle Scholar, taking each square for one foot. This way the central group on stage (5 characters) occupies about 18–20 feet. The canopy is not on the picture, but is mentioned by Lady Montague.
13 Pariati, , op. cit., p. 11.Google Scholar
14 Ibid.
15 Liess, Andreas, Fuxiana (Vienna, 1958), p. 39.Google Scholar
16 Zanotti, , op. cit., vol. 2, p. 206.Google Scholar Italics mine.
17 Gregor, , Denkmäler, plates XXIV and XXV.Google Scholar
18 The two engravings differ in this respect.
19 Pope, , op. cit., p. 349.Google Scholar
20 Ibid.
21 Zanotti, , op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 206–207.Google Scholar
22 Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 208–209.
23 Pariati, , op. cit., p. 25.Google Scholar
24 Gregor, , Denkmäler, plate XXVI.Google Scholar
25 See notes 20 and 21, above.
26 See note 7, above.
27 Pariati, , op. cit., p. 32Google Scholar: “Ruggiero scuopre lo scudo, e facendolo vedere al Mostro; reste qucsti impietrito, perdendo ogni movimento;…”
28 Ibid., p. 35: “si divide il Mostro in due parti, prendendo forma di due Navi, le quali si ritirano.”
29 Yale-Rockefeller Collection of Theatrical Prints: B. G. 1.604.
30 Kinsky, Georg, ed., A History of Music in Pictures (New York, 1937), p. 248.Google Scholar
31 Ibid.: “SCOGLIO, che aprendosi lascia vedere un gran MOSTRO, il quale poseia sparisce dividendosi in diverse NAVI.”
32 Zanotti, , op. cit., vol. 2, p. 207.Google Scholar
33 Pariati, , op. cit., between pp. 38–39.Google Scholar
34 Ibid., between pp. 50–51.
35 Ibid., p. 48: “Si va awanzando la Macchina trionfale, che porta la Felicità Pubblica corteggiate da Cavalieri, e da gli Eroi, che prima erano prigioneri d'Alcina.”
36 “…e nel prospetto orride Rocca d'Alcina ad uso di prigione.”
37 See above note 34.
38 Ibid., p. 47: “Sparisce la Rocca sudetta, e compariscono i sacri Allori, continuandosi la deliziosa veduta dell'Isole Fortunate.”
39 Quantz's eye-witness report from part of the nearly complete record of this production, including score, text, stage directions, and engravings, all published in Wellesz, op. cit. The citation is from p. X.
40 Ibid.
41 Today the area is called “Jeleni Pfikop” or “Hirschgraben.”
42 The foundations were recently unearthed, according to Liess, Fuxiana, p. 41.
43 See a general view and a ground plan in Wellesz, , op. cit., between pp. XIV–XV.Google Scholar
44 The same width had been suggested for the 1716 performance just discussed, see p. 29.
45 Stage left and stage right cannot be ascertained, for engravings sometimes interchange left and right.
46 Wellesz, , op. cit., p. 27Google Scholar: “Si alzera dal fiume una Macchina che alia prima vista rappresenterà una gran massa di aqua lucidissima.”
47 Ibid., p. 31: “Cade tutta l'acqua nel fiume, e comparisce la Reggia del Tevere.”
48 Ibid., between pp. XIV–XV.
49 Ibid., after p. 28.
50 “Gran massa di acqua. Prima, é poi La Reggia Suddetta.”
51 “Prima macchina della p.a mutazione. Reggia del Tevere.”
52 “Gran Massa d'acque, che S'innalza dal Tevere, e pon si cambia nella 2. Reggia del Tevere.”
53 Ibid., p. 56.
54 The engraving of the scenery of Act I (Ibid., following p. 4) shows the bridge in the process of dismantling.
55 Ibid., the engraving follows p. 132.
56 Gregor, , Denkmäler, p. VI.Google Scholar
57 Yale-Rockefeller Collection of Theatrical Prints, A.G.4.10.
58 Wellesz, , op. cit., p. 144 and p. 160Google Scholar, respectively.
59 Ibid., p. 149.
60 Ibid., p. 145.
61 Ibid., p. 152.
62 Wellesz, , op. cit., the plate follows p. 196.Google Scholar The moon in the sky is neither on the picture nor in its inscription. It appears, however, in the scene description opening the act, p. 196.
63 Gregor, Joseph, Wiener Szenische Kunst, Die Theaterdekoration (Vienna, 1924), p. 96.Google Scholar
64 Wellesz, , op. cit., p. 244Google Scholar: “Si avanza la macchina che rappresenta una magnifica Grottesca.”
65 Ibid., following p. 28.
66 See p. 37.
67 Wellesz, , op. cit., p. 249Google Scholar: “Si trasforma la Grottesca in un grand'Arco Trionfale sopra di cui si vedono gli Dei Penanti col Genio di Roma.”
68 Ibid., following p. 28: “d. Magnifica Grottesca, che poi si cambia in un 4. Grand'Arco Trionfale del Genio di Roma.”