''L'Egisto'' (''Aegisthus'') is a 1643

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

in a prologue and three acts by

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...

. It was designated as a ''favola dramatica musicale''. The

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

libretto was by

Giovanni Faustini Giovanni Faustini (1615 – 19 December 1651) was an Italian librettist and opera impresario of the 17th century. He is best remembered for his collaborations with the composer Francesco Cavalli. Life and career Faustini was born in Venice. Impr ...

, his second text for Cavalli.

Performance history

It was first performed in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

at the

Teatro San Cassiano The Teatro San Cassiano (or Teatro di San Cassiano and other variants) was the world's first public opera house, inaugurated as such in 1637 in Venice. The first mention of its construction dates back to 1581. The name with which it is best known co ...

in 1643. Highly successful in its day, it was subsequently performed throughout Italy. Based on a suggestion by Henry Prunières in 1913, it was long believed Cavalli's ''L'Egisto'' was performed under the auspices of

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

in Paris in February 1646, but that work is now thought to have been the Roman opera '' L'Egisto, ovvero Chi soffre, speri'' by Virgilio Mazzocchi and Marco Marazzoli. Cavalli's opera is rarely performed in modern times. The US premiere was given by

The Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

on 1 August 1974, and it was performed in Stockholm in 1977.Glover 1982, p. 24. Its UK premiere was given by

Scottish Opera Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. History Scottish Op ...

at the

Theatre Royal, Glasgow The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow and the longest running in Scotland. Located at 282 Hope Street, its front door was originally round the corner in Cowcaddens Street. It currently accommodates 1,541 people and is owned by Scott ...

on 13 January 1982. The production was toured in 1982 and 1984. All of these productions used a modern edition by the conductor

Raymond Leppard Raymond John Leppard (11 August 1927 – 22 October 2019) was a British-American conductor, harpsichordist, composer and editor. In the 1960s, he played a prime role in the rebirth of interest in Baroque music; in particular, he was one of the ...

Jane Glover Dame Jane Alison Glover (born 13 May 1949) is a British conductor and musicologist. Early life Born in Helmsley, Glover attended Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls. Her father, Robert Finlay Glover, MA ( TCD), was headmaster of Mon ...

, a specialist in 17th-century Venetian opera, gives the following description of Leppard's edition:

Leppard has awarded himself a fairly broad editorial licence: that is, he treats the surviving material rather like a lump of modeller's clay, and moulds it skilfully into alluring shapes to please modern audiencees. In so doing he departs considerably from original practice; but the results, in terms of music-theatre, are spectacularly successful. The changes that Leppard makes fall into four main categories: restructuring, transposition, rescoring and (frankly) recomposition.

The opera was performed by the

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

group

Le Poème Harmonique Le Poème Harmonique is a musical ensemble founded in 1998 by Vincent Dumestre to recreate and promote early music, in particular that of the 17th century. Using rare instruments such as the theorbo, the lirone, the tiorbino and the arpa tripla, ...

, conducted by

Vincent Dumestre Vincent Dumestre (born 5 May 1968) is a French lutenist. In 1997 he founded the ensemble Le Poème Harmonique. Career He studied the classical guitar at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and art history at the École du Louvre. Afterwa ...

, at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

in Paris beginning on 1 February 2012. The orchestra included a continuo group of two harpsichords, three

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck that houses the second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box with a flat top, typically with one or three sound holes decorated with rose ...

s and a

lirone The lirone (or lira da gamba) is the bass member of the ''lira'' family of instruments that was popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is a bowed string instrument with between 9 and 16 gut strings and a fretted neck. When played, ...

, and a small orchestra of strings plus two flutes. A new edition prepared and directed by Marcio da Silva was performed by HGO at The Cockpit Theatre, London in June 2021.

Roles

Synopsis

The Egisto of this opera is not the

Aegisthus Aegisthus (; ; also transliterated as Aigisthos, ) was a figure in Greek mythology. Aegisthus is known from two primary sources: the first is Homer's ''Odyssey'', believed to have been first written down by Homer at the end of the 8th century BC ...

of the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

''. This Egisto is a descendant of the sun-god

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

, and for that reason is treated as an enemy by the goddess

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

. Over a year before the action begins he loved Clori and she returned his love. While spending time together on the seashore on the island of

Delos Delos (; ; ''Dêlos'', ''Dâlos''), is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Though only in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. ...

, they were captured by pirates and sold separately into captivity. Climene, a young woman on the island of

Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...

, was captured roughly at the same time by the same pirates on the very day of her marriage to Lidio. She was sold to the same cruel master as Egisto. A year later, they have managed to escape and Egisto has escorted Climene back to Zakynthos, where the main action takes place. They both set out to find their original lovers. What they do not know is that the pirates brought Clori to Zakynthos, where she fell in love with Lidio. Climene's brother, Ipparco, also fell in love with her. The division into acts reflects the passage of the day from dawn through night to dawn again, to parallel Egisto's heritage as a descendant of the Sun. :Time: Legendary :Place: The island of Zakynthos

Act 1

Set during the morning of the day after Egisto and Climene have landed on the island, the situation of the two mis-matched couples is established. Lidio and Clori are lovers while Egisto and Climene are friends.

Act 2

In the afternoon, Egisto and Climene are trying to get back to their former lovers, only to be rejected by them.

Act 3

When the night falls, we see the machinations of the gods behind the sufferings of the characters on earth. Lidio is captured by Ipparco, and Egisto goes mad. The story is however brought to a happy conclusion.

Recording

* 2021: Marc Mauillon as Egisto, Sophie Junker as Clori, Zachary Wilder as Lidio, Ambroisine Bré as Climene, David Tricou as La Notte/Apollo, Romain Bockler as Hipparco.

, conducted by

. Sound recording made on 17 and 22 March 2021 at the

Royal Opera of Versailles The Royal Opera of Versailles () is the main theatre and opera house of the Palace of Versailles. Designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, it is also known as the Théâtre Gabriel. The interior decoration by Augustin Pajou is constructed almost entirel ...

. Label: Château de Versailles Spectacles.According to th
recording booklet
the performance was recorded on 17 and 22 March 2021. Th
product web page
states it was recorded on 22 and 23 March 2022.

References

Notes Sources * Blanmont, Nicolas (2012)
"Opera around the world. France. Paris"
''

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'', vol. 63, no. 6 (June 2012), pp. 702–703. * * Glover, Jane (1982)
"Cavalli and 'L'Egisto'"
''Opera'', vol. 33, no.1 (January 1982), pp. 19–26. * Nestola, Barbara (2007). "L''Egisto'' fantasma di Cavalli: nuova luce sulla rappresentazione parigina dell ''Egisto ovvero Chi soffre speri'' di Mazzocchi e Marazzoli (1646)", ''Ricercare'', vol. 19, no. 1/2 (2007), pp. 125–126. . *
Libretto of the opera

External links

*

at the Opéra Baroque website {{DEFAULTSORT:Egisto, L' Operas Operas by Francesco Cavalli Operas based on classical mythology 1643 operas Operas set in Greece Italian-language operas Opera world premieres at the Teatro San Cassiano