Leonardo Vinci - Catone in Utica - titlepage of the libretto - Rome 1728

Pietro Torri - Catone in Utica - italian titlepage of the libretto - Munich 1736

''Catone in Utica'' (; ) is an

opera libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Met ...

, that was originally written for

Leonardo Vinci Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian Baroque composer known chiefly for his 40 or so operas; comparatively little of his work in other genres survives. A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera, his influence on ...

's 1727 opera. Following Vinci's success, Metastasio's text was used by numerous

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s of the

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and classical eras for their own operas, including

Pietro Torri Pietro Torri ( – 6 July 1737) was an Italian Baroque composer. Life Torri was born in Peschiera del Garda., Neue Hofkapelle München, Christoph Hammer From 1684 to 1688, he served as the organist and choirmaster of the Margrave of Bayreuth, a ...

(1736),

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

(1737),

Giovanni Battista Ferrandini Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (c. 1710 – 25 October 1791), an Italian composer of the Baroque and Classical eras, was born in Venice, Italy and died in Munich, at the age of about 81. He was a child prodigy and entered the service of Duke ...

(1753) and J. C. Bach (1761).

History

Before Metastasio's ''Catone in Utica'' libretto, Cato the Younger had already been the subject of following operas: * ''Catone il giovane'', by Bartolomeo Monari, libretto by (Bologna 1688)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. , p.&nbs
109
/ref> * ''Catone Uticensi'', by

Carlo Francesco Pollarolo Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (ca. 1653 – 7 February 1723) was an Italian composer, organist, and music director. Known chiefly for his operas, he wrote a total of 85 of them as well as 13 oratorios. His compositional style was initially indebted t ...

(Venice 1701) * ''Cato'', German opera by

Reinhard Keiser Reinhard Keiser (9 January 1674 – 12 September 1739) was a German opera composer based in Hamburg. He wrote over a hundred operas. Johann Adolf Scheibe (writing in 1745) considered him an equal to Johann Kuhnau, George Frideric Handel and Georg ...

, text after

Matteo Noris Matteo Noris (1640, Venice – 6 October 1714, Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as ...

(Hamburg 1715) Metastasio wrote ''Catone in Utica'' in Italian, as a libretto for an opera in three acts. He changed the name of

Cornelia Cornelia may refer to: People *Cornelia (name), a feminine given name *Cornelia (gens), a Roman family Places *425 Cornelia, the asteroid ''Cornelia'', a main-belt asteroid ;Italy *Cornelia (Rome Metro), an underground station on Rome Metro *Via ...

to Emilia and that of

Juba Juba is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria, Central Equatoria State. It is the most recently declared national capital and had a populatio ...

to Arbace, as better suited for music.

set the libretto to music for the first time. Vinci's opera was premiered at the

Teatro delle Dame The Teatro delle Dame, also known as the Teatro Alibert (its original name), was a theatre in Rome built in 1718 and located on what is now the corner of Via D'Alibert and Via Margutta. In the course of its history it underwent a series of reconstr ...

, Rome, during the carnival of 1727.

Content

The subject of the libretto is the death of Cato the Younger, set in Utica. Following characters are represented: * Catone ( Cato the Younger) * Cesare (

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

) * Marzia, daughter of Catone, secretly in love with Cesare * Arbace, Prince of Numidia, friend of Catone and lover of Marzia * Emilia, widow of Pompeo (

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

) * Fulvio, legate of the Roman Senate and lover of Emilia.

Operas

Metastasio's libretto was also set by: *

Geminiano Giacomelli Geminiano Giacomelli (sometimes Jacomelli) (28 May 1692 – 25 January 1740) was an Italian composer. Biography Giacomelli was born in Piacenza. In 1724 he was named to the post of ''Kapellmeister'' to the Duke of Parma. Beginning with the fir ...

, Vienna, 1727 *

Leonardo Leo Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque music, Baroque composer. Biography Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (currently known as San Vito dei Normanni, province of ...

, Venice, 1729 *

Johann Adolph 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 ...

, Turin, 1732 *

George Frederick Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, Han ...

, London, 1732, a ''pasticcio'' adapted mainly from Leo's 1729 setting, but transposing, editing or even entirely replacing its various arias to suit the skills of the singers he had at his disposal; some of the interpolated arias included pre-existing compositions by

Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Giacinto Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included ...

, Hasse, and

. *

, Munich, 1736 *

, Venice and Verona, 1737 *

Egidio Duni Egidio Romualdo Duni (or Egide Romuald Duny; 11 February 1708 – 11 June 1775) was an Italian composer who studied in Naples and worked in Italy, France and London, writing both Italian and French operas. Biography Born in Matera, Duni was tau ...

, Italy, about 1738 * , Brunswick, 1743 *

Carl Heinrich Graun Carl Heinrich Graun (7 May 1704 – 8 August 1759) was a German composer and tenor. Along with Johann Adolph Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time. Biography Graun was born in Wahrenbrüc ...

, Berlin, 1744 *

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...

, Vienna, 1749 *

, Munich, 1758 * Vincenzo Legrenzo Ciampi, Venice, 1750 *

Florian Leopold Gassmann Florian Leopold Gassmann (3 May 1729 – 21 January 1774) was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of ''dramma giocoso'' immediat ...

, Vienna, about 1760 *

Johann Christian Bach Johann Christian Bach (5 September 1735 – 1 January 1782) was a German composer of the Classical era, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He received his early musical training from his father, and later from his half-brother, Carl ...

, Naples, 1761 *

Gian Francesco de Majo Gian Francesco de Majo (24 March 1732 – 17 November 1770) was an Italian composer. He is best known for his more than 20 operas. He also composed a considerable amount of sacred works, including oratorios, cantatas, and masses. Life and ca ...

, Naples, 1763 *

Niccolò Piccinni Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the ...

, Naples, 1770 * , Naples, 1777 * , Milan, 1782 *

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born i ...

, Naples, 1788 *

Peter Winter Peter Winter, later Peter von Winter, (baptised 28 August 1754 – 17 October 1825) was a German violinist, conductor and composer, especially of operas. He began his career as a player at the Mannheim court, and advanced to conductor. When th ...

, Venice, 1791.

References

Sources

*
Volume I

Volume II

Volume III
{{Authority control Libretti by Metastasio 1728 operas Cultural depictions of Cato the Younger