''Motezuma'', RV 723, is an

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 three acts by

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 ...

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 ...

Alvise Giusti Luigi (Alvise) Giusti (Venice, 1709 – Vienna, 1766) was an Italian lawyer, poet, and librettist. He is often confused with his uncle, Girolamo Giusti (1703 – ?), who also wrote libretti. Between them, they produced at least four, although it h ...

. The libretto is very loosely based on the life of the Aztec ruler Montezuma who died in 1520. The first performance was given in the

Teatro Sant'Angelo The Teatro San Angelo (in Venetian) or Teatro Sant'Angelo (in Italian) was once a theatre in Venice which ran from 1677 until 1803. It was the last of the major Venetian theatres to be built in the 1650s–60s opera craze following Teatro Santi ...

in Venice on 14 November 1733. (In earlier reference books the opera is referred to as ''Montezuma'', but since the reappearance of the original manuscript this has been corrected to ''Motezuma''.) The music was thought to have been lost, but was discovered in 2002 in the archive of the music library of the

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, also known as the Berliner Singakademie, is a musical (originally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th-centu ...

. Its first fully staged performance in modern times took place in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, Germany, on 21 September 2005.

Background and performance history

Vivaldi's librettist was the Venetian lawyer

Girolamo Giusti Girolamo Giusti (1703 – ?) was an Italian librettist and composer. He is often confused with his uncle, Alvise Giusti (1709–1766) an Italian lawyer, poet, and librettist, who also wrote libretti. Between them, they produced at least four, alth ...

. His libretto was a highly fictionalised account of an episode in the life of the Aztec ruler Montezuma. The opera has a happy ending, unlike the real Montezuma who was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The opera, which premiered on 14 November 1733 at the

in Venice, was one of the earliest to be based on a subject from the Americas. According to Michael Talbot in ''The Vivaldi Compendium'', for its time Giusti's libretto "evinces a rare degree of sympathy for the Mexican emperor and his queen Mirena." At the premiere the role of Mirena was sung by

Anna Girò Anna Girò (also Girrò or Giraud) (c1710—c1748 or later), also known as l'Annina del Prete Rosso, la Nina del Prete Rosso, or l'Annina della Pietà, was the stage name of Anna Maria(?) Maddalena Tessieri (or Tesieri, Teseire or Testeiré), an It ...

, who was a protégée of Vivaldi and whom he considered his "indispensable" prima donna. The title role was sung by the German bass Massimiliano Miler. Unusually for Vivaldi, who preferred castrato singers with

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

voices, he wrote two roles for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

castrati—Fernando ( Cortés) and Asperano, the Mexican general. The choreographer at the premiere was Giovanni Gallo. The sets were designed by Antonio Mauro. Talbot, Michael (2011)
''The Vivaldi Compendium''
pp. 41; 88–89; 125. Boydell Press. Riding, Alan (13 June 2005)
"Lost Vivaldi Opera Finally Gets Its Music and Words Together"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Retrieved 14 March 2015.''Motezuma: drama per musica da rappresentarsi nel Teatro di Sant'Angelo nell'autunno dell'anno 1733''. . Although the libretto printed at the time of the premiere survived, the music was thought to have been lost until it was rediscovered in 2002. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Sing-Akademie's library was captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and taken to the Soviet Union, eventually ending up in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Following the restitution of the Sing-Akademie collection to Germany, the fragmentary score of ''Motezuma'' (the beginning of the first act and large parts of third are missing) was identified by the musicologist . Musicologists began working on reconstructing a version suitable for performance. The Sing-Akademie then asserted that they had a

publication right Publication right is a type of copyright granted to the publisher who first publishes a previously unpublished work after that work's original copyright has expired. It is in almost all respects the same as standard copyright, but excludes moral ...

, including derivative rights such as performing rights, to the opera. A concert version of the opera, apparently the first performance since the 18th century, was performed on 11 June 2005 in the Concert Hall

De Doelen De Doelen is a concert venue and convention centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was originally built in 1934 but then destroyed in 1940 during the German bombardment of Rotterdam in May 1940 at the outset of World War II. It was rebuilt in 19 ...

in Rotterdam conducted by

Federico Maria Sardelli Federico Maria Sardelli (born 1963 in Livorno) is an Italian people, Italian conducting, conductor, Musical historicism, historicist-composer, musicology, musicologist, comic artist, and flautist, resident in Florence. He founded the medieval mu ...

. On 18 July 2005, a version of ''Motezuma'' was to have been performed by the

Opera Barga Festival The Opera Barga Festival is an annual opera festival held in July in the town of Barga, Italy, founded in 1967 by Peter Hunt and Gillian Armitage together with Peter Gellhorn as musical director and Lorenzo Malfatti, head of didactics. Its perfor ...

in Italy, also conducted by Sardelli. The Rotterdam performance had gone ahead only after a substantial payment to the Sing-Akademie. However, the Barga performance was halted by an injunction, with a potential €250,000 penalty for non-compliance. The reason given was that German law offers copyright protection to entities such as the Sing-Akademie that publish previously inaccessible works. Because the injunction was issued one week before the date of the Barga performance, a "

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

" was performed. The ''Motezuma'' libretto

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 lines ...

s were spoken, and other Vivaldi arias sung between them. In mid-September 2005, the injunction was lifted which allowed the first staged performance in modern times to take place on 21 September 2005 in

, Germany, as part of the festival. It was performed by l'Orchestra

Modo Antiquo Modo Antiquo is an Italian instrumental ensemble dedicated to the performance of Baroque music, Baroque, Renaissance music, Renaissance, and Medieval music. It was founded in 1984 by Federico Maria Sardelli. Twice nominated for a Grammy Award, the ...

conducted again by Sardelli. The Düsseldorf production was directed by Uwe Schmitz-Gielsdorf and designed by Paolo Atzori.Apthorp, Shirley (22 September 2005)
"Vivaldi's ''Motezuma'' Has Dusseldorf Premiere After Court Win"
''

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

''. Retrieved 14 March 2015. The American premiere was held on 28 March 2009, in Long Beach, California, staged and performed by the

Long Beach Opera Long Beach Opera is a Southern California opera company serving the greater Los Angeles and Orange County metroplex. Founded in 1979, it is the oldest continually running opera company in the L.A. area. In June 2019 LBO presented the world premiere ...

with musical accompaniment by Musica Angelica directed by David Schweizer and conducted by Andreas Mitisek.Ng, David (March 22, 2009)
"Vivaldi's 'Motezuma,' lost, found, restored, re-imagined"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. Retrieved 14 March 2015.

Roles

Recordings

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

recording by Il Complesso Barocco, conducted by Alan Curtis, which is based on a reconstruction of the complete opera by the Italian baroque violinist and composer Alessandro Ciccolini.Clements, Andrew (24 March 2006
"Vivaldi: Motezuma, Priante/Mijanovic/Invernizzi/Il Complesso Barocco/Curtis"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Retrieved 14 March 2015. A DVD of the performance is also available.

References in literature

* In

Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French ...

's novel ''Baroque Concerto'', the nameless main character, who is related to a Conquistador, visits Venice in 1709. He befriends Antonio Vivaldi, as well as

Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque music, Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical peri ...

and

George Frideric 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, H ...

. During the

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

, he wears a mask of Montezuma. An intrigued Vivaldi asks for an explanation of the story. Upon hearing of the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...

, Vivaldi decides to write an opera based on it. The resulting opera is ''Motezuma''.

References

Further reading * Pareyon, Gabriel (15 June 2005)
"Estreno mundial del Motezuma de Vivaldi"
(originally published by Pauta, vol. 23, no. 95, Mexico, DF : 50–59)

External links

*
Complete libretto
on librettidopera.it
Detailed synopsis in English
on the official website of

Review of the 2009 American premiere by Long Beach Opera
with production photos. (Culture Monster Blog, ''

'') {{Authority control Operas by Antonio Vivaldi Italian-language operas 1733 operas Operas Works set in the Aztec Empire Operas set in Mexico Cultural depictions of Moctezuma II Cultural depictions of Hernán Cortés