Argippo

''Argippo'' is an opera libretto by Domenico Lalli, which in Giovanni Porta's setting premiered in Venice in 1717. Claudio Nicola Stampa's reworked version of the libretto was set as ''L'Argippo'' by . This opera was performed in Milan in 1722.

Antonio Vivaldi's ''Argippo'', RV 697, based on Stampa's version of the libretto, was staged in two different versions in 1730, first in Vienna (RV 697-A), and later in Prague (RV 697-B). The music of both of these versions is lost. Vivaldi's setting of the ''Argippo'' libretto partially survives in a pasticcio, RV Anh. 137, which, in the 21st century, was the basis for a reconstruction of the Prague version of Vivaldi's opera.

Libretto

Domenico Lalli's '' Il gran Mogol'' libretto was set by Francesco Mancini, and performed in the Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, in December 1713. In the next two decades this libretto was set as ''Argippo'' by several composers:Freeman, Daniel E. (1992)
''The Opera Theater of Count Franz Anton Von Sporck in Prague''.
Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press.
p. 166
/ref>
* Setting by Giovanni Porta, performed in 1717 in Venice. websiteL'Argippo – Porta, Giovanni ; Lalli, Domenico – 1717
at Munich Digitization Center websiteMus.2444-F-1
at Saxon State and University Library Dresden website
* ''L'Argippo'', a setting by of Claudio Nicola Stampa's reworked version of the libretto, was staged in Milan in 1722.Domenico Pietropaolo, Mary Ann Parker (2011)
''The Baroque Libretto: Italian Operas and Oratorios in the Thomas Fisher Library at the University of Toronto''.
University of Toronto Press. , pp.&nbs
186

187
/ref>Claudio Nicola Stampa, after Domenico Lalli (1722)
''L'Argippo; drama per musica, da rappresentarsi nel Regio Ducal Teatro di Milano, in occasione di celebrarsi il giorno natalizio della cesarea cattolica Maestà di Elsabetta Cristina, imperatrice, regina delle Spagne, &c., &c''.
Milan: Giuseppe Richino Malatesta. (also website)
* Antonio Vivaldi based his ''Argippo'', RV 697-A, which premiered in Vienna in 1730, on Stampa's adaptation of Lalli's libretto (music lost).
* Vivaldi used a variant of this libretto for his ''Argippo'', RV 697-B, staged in Prague in the autumn of 1730 (music lost).Freeman, Daniel E. (1995)
"Antonio Vivaldi and the Sporck Theater in Prague", pp. 117–140
i
''Janáček and Czech Music: Proceedings of The International Conference (St. Louis 1988)''.
Pendragon Press. , pp.&nbs
122129

*Vivaldi's setting of the text based on Lalli's libretto was partially preserved in a pasticcio, ''Argippo'', RV Anh. 137.
* Another ''Argippo'' pasticcio, credited to Antonio Costantini, and based on Lalli's libretto, was performed in the 1733 carnival season in Brno.''Argippo'': Antonio Costantini
at

Roles

Synopsis

The opera, in three acts, is set in an Indian royal court and centers around a young princess smitten by a dishonest suitor.

1717–1722

Porta's setting of Lalli's ''Argippo'' libretto was first performed in Venice in 1717. Fiorè's setting of Stampa's adaptation of the ''Argippo'' libretto was first performed in Milan in 1722.

Porta

Porta's ''Argippo'' was first performed on 31 October 1717 in Venice, in the Teatro San Cassiano. Both the printed libretto (titled ''L'Argippo: Drama per musica'') and the manuscript score (titled ''Argippo'') of this performance survive. A four-page dedication by Lalli precedes the text of his libretto. There is no sinfonia (overture) in the score. There are fifteen scenes in the first act, fourteen in the second act, and nine in the last act. The text in the score closely follows the original libretto. The printed libretto contains text variants for nine arias, but it is not known whether these alternative texts were set by Porta.

In 1722, Porta's opera was re-staged in Venice, this time in the Teatro San Moisè.L'Argippo – Porta, Giovanni ; Lalli, Domenico – 1722
at Munich Digitization Center website Also for this production, Lalli wrote a dedication in the printed libretto.

Fiorè

''L'Argippo'' was staged in the Regio Ducal Teatro in Milan in honour of the 31st birthday of Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, which fell on 28 August 1722. The dedication, dated 27 August 1722 in the extant libretto, was written by Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio and addressed at , who was the then-time Austrian governor of the Duchy of Milan. Stampa added an introduction to this revised version of Lalli's libretto, which was set by Fiorè.

The libretto describes three stage settings for the fourteen scenes of the first act, while the second act (twelve scenes) and the third act (eleven scenes) each have two different stage settings. A reprint of the libretto was published in 2018.

Vivaldi's RV 697, pasticcios and a reconstruction

In a letter he wrote in 1737, Vivaldi mentions he had been called to Vienna: according to Michael Talbot, this was likely on invitation by the Theater am Kärntnertor where the first version of his ''Argippo'', RV 697, was presented as an intermezzo in 1730. Later that year, a somewhat more extended version of this opera was performed by a company of mostly Italian performers in Franz Anton von Sporck's private theatre in Prague. A few years later, this Italian ensemble performed in Regensburg, where a score with at least six arias from Vivaldi's ''Argippo'' was recovered.Rob Cameron (3 May 2008)
Vivaldi work revived 278 years on.
BBC News

1730

Two closely related German versions of the ''Argippo'' libretto were published in 1730:
* one for a performance in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, translated by Heinrich Rademin;
* a more extended one for the Sporck Theater in Prague.
Both contain an aria titled "Gelido in ogni vena", on a text extracted from Metastasio's '' Siroe, re di Persia'' libretto, and which Vivaldi had for instance also inserted in his ''Farnace'' opera, there based on music from his '' L'Inverno'' concerto. The libretto variants were based on Stampa's adaptation of Lalli's text, but were transmitted without their respective settings. Only the Prague libretto names Vivaldi as composer: because of the similarities between both texts Vivaldi is however considered the composer in both cases. The Vienna version, which was probably performed before the Prague version, received the RV 697-A number, and RV 697-B was assigned to the opera performed in the Sporck Theater.

Pasticcios

RV Anh. 137 is an ''Argippo'' pasticcio that survives in two manuscripts:
* A complete score, Mus.ms 245 of the .Mus Ms 245
at website
* An extract of 19 arias of this pasticcio, the score of which is preserved at the in Regensburg (D-Rtt Prota 4).

This pasticcio contains at least six arias by Vivaldi.

Another ''Argippo'' pasticcio was performed in Brno in 1733. The libretto of this production survives without music: as a pasticcio it may have contained arias by Vivaldi.

Recovering ''Argippo'' music

In 2008 Ondřej Macek presented his reconstruction of Vivaldi's ''Argippo'', which he had based on extant librettos, on the Vivaldi arias in the Regensburg pasticcio score—which he had recovered two years earlier—, and on other music the Venetian composer had written around 1730. Macek performed this opera with the Hofmusici Baroque Ensemble, first in Prague, and later in Venice. A live recording of the Venice performance, which with inclusion of sinfonias derived from Vivaldi concertos lasts around two hours, was issued on CD in 2009. ''Argippo Resurrected'' is a 2009 Czech documentary about Macek's recovery, reconstruction and performance of Vivaldi's ''Argippo'' music.Argippo Resurrected
at

The full version of the RV Anh. 137 pasticcio was recovered in Darmstadt, where it had previously been classified under an erroneous title, and misattributed to Ernst Christian Hesse. A digitized facsimile of this score was made available on the website of the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt.

Further reading

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References

Notes

Sources
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External links

Vivaldi's Prague opera Argippo revival. Interview with Ondřej Macek
(in Czech)
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{{Authority control

Operas by Antonio Vivaldi
1730 operas
Italian-language operas
Operas set in India
Operas