''Scipione affricano'' (''Scipio Africanus'') 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 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 ''
dramma per musica''. The 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 ...
was by
Nicolò Minato, based on
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...
's "
The Continence of Scipio".
Performance history
It was first performed in Venice at the
Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo on 9 February 1664. It was also given in Rome in 1671 with the
castrato
A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrino ...
Giovanni Francesco Grossi as a celebrated Siface.
Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani produced a greatly revised version of the opera for the
Carnival of Venice in 1678.
Roles
Recordings
*Atto III Scena 3: "A tuo dispetto amor" Cappella Mediterranea, Leonardo García Alarcón, Clematis, Thomas Dunford 2014
*"Hora si ch'assai più fiero"
Filippo Mineccia (counter-tenor) Nereydas Javier Ulises Illán Glossa 2018
References
Further reading
*Clinkscale, Martha Novak, "''Scipione affricano''", ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes.
The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...
'', ed.
Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...
(London, 1992)
{{Authority control
Italian-language operas
Operas by Francesco Cavalli
1664 operas
Operas set in ancient Rome
Operas