''Piramo e Tisbe'' is an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

in two acts, described by its composer as an ''

intermezzo In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...

tragico'', by

Johann Adolf Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

to a libretto by

Marco Coltellini Marco Coltellini (24 May 1724, in Montepulciano – November 1777, in Saint Petersburg) was an Italian opera tenor, librettist and printer. Biography Coltellini embarked on a career in the Church, but had to leave after fathering four daught ...

. ''Piramo e Tisbe'' is based on the story of the lovers

Pyramus and Thisbe Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors. Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...

as told in

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

''. The same story is parodied in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'', and this comic version of it forms the basis of the 1745 opera ''

'' by

John Frederick Lampe John Frederick Lampe (born Johann Friedrich Lampe; probably 1703 – 25 July 1751) was a musician and composer. Life Lampe was born in Saxony, Germany but came to England in 1724 and played the bassoon in opera houses. In 1730, he was hired by ...

, but Coltellini's libretto is a straightforward sentimental tragedy, in which the two eponymous lovers kill themselves, (as does Tisbe's father, who blames himself, having previously forbidden their love). ''Piramo e Tisbe'' is more elaborately composed than Hasse's other operas, with accompanied

recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...

s and

aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

s which are thorough-composed, that is, not merely

strophic Strophic form – also called verse-repeating form, chorus form, AAA song form, or one-part song form – is a song structure in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same music. Contrasting song forms include through-composed, ...

settings. Hasse wrote to a friend that he rated it "amongst the best works I have written".

Performance history

''Piramo e Tisbe'' was first performed in the autumn of 1768 at an as yet unidentified estate outside

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The work was revised and performed at the theatre of the Laxenburg Palace of that city in September 1770. Its first American performance was in 2003 at the Bloomington Early Music Festival in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

.Website of Emilio Pons, retrieved 27.6.2008
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Roles

Recordings

*Capella Clementina, cond.

Helmut Müller-Brühl Helmut Peter Müller-Brühl (28 June 1933 – 2 January 2012) was a German conductor. Müller-Brühl was a pupil of Hermann Abendroth, founder of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra. In 1958, Müller-Brühl invited this orchestra to be the principal or ...

; Barbara Schlick, Suzanne Gari, Michel Lecocq (Koch-Schwann, 1984) *La Stagione Orchestra (Frankfurt), cond. Michael Schneider; Barbara Schlick, Ann Monoyios, Wilfried Jochens (Capriccio, 1995) *San Rocco Academy Orchestra (Venice), cond. Mario Merigo; Marina Bolgan, Svetlana Svorodova, Emanuele Giannino (Mondo Musica, 2000)

Notes

References

* Sven Hansell, ''Piramo e Tisbe'', Grove Music Online, retrieved 27.6.2008. {{Authority control 1768 operas Operas by Johann Adolf Hasse Intermezzi Italian-language operas Operas based on Metamorphoses Operas