''Ippolito ed Aricia'' is a " reform opera" in five acts by

Tommaso Traetta Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta (30 March 1727 – 6 April 1779), 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 r ...

with an Italian

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 ...

Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni (21 November 1692 – 20 December 1768) was an Italian poet and librettist. As a poet Frugoni was one of the best of the school of the Arcadian Academy, and his lyrics and pastorals had great facility and elegance. His coll ...

. The opera is based upon abbé

Simon-Joseph Pellegrin The abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin (1663 – 5 September 1745) was a French poet and playwright, a libretto, librettist who collaborated with Jean-Philippe Rameau and other composers. Biography He was born at Marseille, the son of a ''conseiller'' ...

's libretto for

Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera a ...

's earlier opera ''

Hippolyte et Aricie ('' Hippolytus and Aricia'') was the first opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau. It was premiered to great controversy by the Académie Royale de Musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris on October 1, 1733. The French libretto, by Abbé ...

'', which was in turn based on

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tra ...

's tragedy ''

Phèdre ''Phèdre'' (; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. Composition and premiere With ...

''. The work premiered at the Teatro Ducale in

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

on 9 May 1759 and is still occasionally performed today.

Background and musical analysis

''Ippolito ed Aricia'' was commissioned in 1759 by

Guillaume du Tillot Léon Guillaume (du) Tillot (22 May 1711 in Bayonne – 13 December 1774 in Paris) was a French politician infused with liberal ideals of the Enlightenment, who from 1759 was the minister of the Duchy of Parma under Philip, Duke of Parma and his ...

, a minister for

Philip, Duke of Parma Philip (, ; 15 March 1720 – 18 July 1765) was Duke of Parma from 18 October 1748 until his death in 1765. A Spanish infante by birth, he was born in Madrid as the second son of King Philip V and Queen Elisabeth. He became Duke of Parma as a ...

, on behalf of the duke and his wife, Princess

Louise Élisabeth of France Louise most commonly refers to: * Louise (given name) Louise or Luise may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Songs * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 * "Louise", by The Yardbirds from the album '' Five Live Yardbirds'', 1964 * "Louis ...

. At that time, both France and Spain thought of

as a strategic point of interest and subsidized the court heavily. The duke and his wife were particularly fond of

French opera French opera is both the art of opera in France and opera in the French language. It is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Debussy, Ra ...

and Tillot promoted all forms of French musical theater at the court. However, Tillot decided that he wanted to commission an opera for the court that would merge Italian musical idioms, such as beautiful melodies and virtuosic

coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...

display, with French dramatic forms like choruses, ballet, and supernatural elements. He approached Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, court poet of Parma, with the idea of creating such an opera using the Italian text of Rameau's ''Hippolyte et Aricie''. He agreed, and Tillot proceeded to recruit Tommaso Traetta to compose the music and Count Francesco Algarotti to assist Frugoni with the libretto. The resulting work is a rare successful blend of Italian

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abou ...

elements and the French

tragédie lyrique This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most co ...

. The opera has virtuosic exit arias in the opera seria tradition of

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 ...

but is organized into five acts, as in French opera. There are 12 characters in the drama, four prominent instrumental sinfonias, elaborate choruses, and 26 dances, most of which are organized into suites. The instrumentation is highly creative and often employs solo or independent viola writing. Obbligato recitative is used for moments of extreme drama, and here the orchestral accompaniment is elaborate and complex. Choral movements are large and often involve solo passages for various members of the cast. Du Tillot advertised the performance extensively. The production was lavish and brilliant and the opera a huge success, for nothing like it had ever been tried before.

Major roles

Recordings

*''Ippolito ed Aricia'' with

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

David Golub, the Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, and the Bratislava Chamber Choir. The cast includes Angelo Manzotti (Hippolytus),

Patrizia Ciofi Patrizia Ciofi (born 7 June 1967) is an Italian operatic coloratura soprano. Career Born in Casole d'Elsa, Ciofi studied at the Istituto Musicale Pietro Mascagni in Livorno. She subsequently took part in master classes at the Accademia Musicale ...

(Aricia), Elena Lopéz (Phaedra), Simon Edwards (Theseus), Maria Miccoli (Oenone), Stefania Donzelli (Diana), Luca Grassi (Plutone), Monica Sesto (Tisifone), Saverio Fiore (Mercurio), Sara Allegretta (High priestess), Angela Masi (Una Marinaia), Rossana Potenza (Una Cacciatrice), Loredana Cinieri and Madia Todisco (Le Parche). Recorded live in 1999 and released in 2000.''Ippolito ed Aricia''
tp4.rub.de

Notes

References

*Original libretto:
Ippolito ed Aricia. Tragedia da rappresentarsi nel Reale Teatro di Parma nella primavera dell'anno 1759. Nuovamente composta e adattata alle scene italiane dal sig. abate Frugoni revisore, e compositore degli spettacoli teatrali di S.A.R. e segretario perpetuo della sua Reale Accademica delle Belle Arti
', Parma, Regio-ducal stamperia Monti, 1759 via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

*Blanchetti, Francesco, ''Ippolito ed Aricia'', in Gelli, Piero & Poletti, Filippo (eds.), ''Dizionario dell'Opera 2008'', Milano, Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2007, pp. 667–668. (the article is reproduced online a
OperaManager.com
{{Authority control 1759 operas Operas Italian-language operas Operas by Tommaso Traetta Operas based on classical mythology Operas based on plays Operas based on works by Jean Racine Phaedra (mythology) Works based on Phèdre