''Calandro'' is an ''

opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dram ...

'' in three acts composed by

Giovanni Alberto Ristori Giovanni Alberto Ristori (1692 - 7 February 1753) was an Italian opera composer and conductor. He was the son of Tommaso Ristori, the leader of an opera troupe belonging to the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony August II the Strong (based ...

to a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

by Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino. The libretto was based on the comedy '' Il Calandro'' by

Bernardo Dovizi Bernardo Dovizi of Bibbiena (4 August 1470 – 9 November 1520) was an Italian cardinal and comedy writer, known best as Cardinal Bibbiena, for the town of Bibbiena, where he was born. Biography He received a substantial literary training, ...

(Cardinal Bibbiena). In turn, Dovizi's play borrowed elements of the plot from

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the g ...

's ''

Menaechmi ''Menaechmi'', a Latin-language play, is often considered Plautus' greatest play. The title is sometimes translated as ''The Brothers Menaechmus'' or ''The Two Menaechmuses''. The ''Menaechmi'' is a comedy about mistaken identity, involving a ...

'' and the character Calandro from

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...

's ''

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label= Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Da ...

'' It was first staged on 2 September 1726 in Dresden.

Background and performance history

''Calandro'' premiered on 2 September 1726 in the court theatre at the Schloss Pillnitz ( Pillnitz Castle) near Dresden at the request of

Maria Josepha of Austria Maria Josepha of Austria (Maria Josepha Benedikta Antonia Theresia Xaveria Philippine, pl, Maria Józefa; 8 December 1699 – 17 November 1757) was the Queen of Poland and Electress of Saxony by marriage to Augustus III. From 1711 to 1717, sh ...

to celebrate the return of her husband, Crown Prince Frederick Augustus, from Warsaw. It was probably Germany's first opera buffa, and after hearing a performance during the 1728 Carnival season in Dresden, Frederick Augustus' father

August II Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

asked for a copy of the score. Three years later, in 1731, it became the first Italian opera presented in Russia. There it was given in Moscow for the celebration of the coronation of

Empress Anna Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

. It was produced under his and his father's direction with thirteen actors and nine singers including Ludovica Seyfried, Margherita Ermini and Rosalia Fantasia. Like most of Ristori's operas ''Calandro'' eventually fell into oblivion. However, it was revived in a recording by the Batzdorfer Hofkapelle in 2004, and will have a fully staged performance in June 2011 as part of the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival.Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival (2011) p. 5

Synopsis

*Calandro, disillusioned with mankind and wanting to return to nature, spends his days in a forest with his tame bears. There, Alceste, leader of the shepherds, engages him as the tutor for his son, Nearco. Through a series of twists and turns, the unruly Nearco contrives to get rid of his tutor and in the process sort out the problems of his friend Licisco who is in love with Clizia.

Recordings

: ''Calandro'', commedia per musica. Batzdorfer Hofkapelle; Tobias Schade and Stefan Rath (conductors). Label: KammerTon (KT 22005) Audio CD, 2004.Zórawska-Witkowska (2007) p. 139 **Egbert Junghanns (Calandro) –

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...

; Jan Kobow (Alceste) –

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

; (Nearco) –

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist ...

; Maria Jonas (Agide) –

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middl ...

;

Britta Schwarz Britta Schwarz (born 1964) is a German contralto from Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Between 1980 and 1983 she studied vocals at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" under Christa Niko, and then studied at the Hochschule für Musik Ca ...

(Clizia) –

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

Operas set to the same story

* Antonio Sacchini, ''L'avaro deluso, o Don Calandrino'', premiered November 24, 1778 London * Johann Georg Schürer, ''Calandro'', premiered January 20, 1748, Dresden * Giuseppe Gazzaniga, ''Il Calandrino'' (''Il Calandrano''), premiered 1771, Venice

References

Sources *Buelow, George J. (2004)
''A History of Baroque Music''
Indiana University Press. * *Mengelberg, Rudolf (1916)
''Giovanni Alberto Ristori''
Universitat Leipzig *Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival (2011)
Programme
*Sadie, Julie Anne (1998)
"Ristori, Giovanni Alberto"
''Companion to Baroque Music''. University of California Press, pp. 200–201. *Zórawska-Witkowska, Alina (2007)
"Giovanni Alberto Ristori and his Serenate at the Polish Court of Augustus III, 1735–1746"
in ''Music as Social and Cultural Practice: Essays in honour of Reinhard Strohm'' (Melania Bucciarelli and Berta Joncus eds). Boydell & Brewer, pp. 139–158.

External links

* {{authority control Operas by Giovanni Alberto Ristori Italian-language operas Operas 1726 operas Works based on Menaechmi Operas based on plays Operas based on works by Giovanni Boccaccio