''Solimano'' is a Baroque opera in three acts by

Davide Perez Davide Perez (1711 – 30 October 1778) was an Italian opera composer born in Naples of Italian parents, and later resident court composer at Lisbon from 1752. He staged three operas on librettos of Metastasio at Lisbon with huge success in 1753 ...

(1711–1778). A first version was premiered for the carnival in 1757 in the

Palace of Ajuda A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

in Lisbon. The revised version of 1768 performed for the birthday of

Mariana Victoria of Spain Mariana Victoria of Spain (; 31 March 1718 – 15 January 1781) was an ''Infante, Infanta of Spain'' by birth and was later the List of Portuguese consorts, Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Joseph I of Portugal, Joseph I. She acted as rege ...

is however much more widely known.

Action

A previous work entitled '' Solimano'' (1753) by

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 ...

based on the libretto by

Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca ( 1718 – c. 1795) was an Italian poet and librettist. A student and protégé of Metastasio, he was primarily active in the court theaters of Dresden and Vienna. His most successful work was the libretto for the op ...

told the tale of two pairs of Turkish and Persian lovers. Perez's version has two Turkish-Turkish couples instead. The Turkish sultan Solimano (

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

) has sent his eldest son Selimo (

Selim II Selim II (; ; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond () or Selim the Drunkard (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574. He was a son of Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sul ...

) and his half-brother Zanghire (

Şehzade Cihangir Şehzade Cihangir (; 1531 – 27 November 1553) was an Ottoman prince, the sixth and youngest child of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxelana, Hürrem Sultan. Life Cihangir was born in 1531 in Constantinople during the reign of h ...

) into the war against the Shah of Persia, Tamasse (

Tahmasp I Tahmasp I ( or ; 22 February 1514 – 14 May 1576) was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 until his death in 1576. He was the eldest son of Shah Ismail I and his principal consort, Tajlu Khanum. Tahmasp ascended the throne after the ...

). As a result of the campaign, Selimo is to marry the daughter of the Shah, Persane, and become ruler of Turkey and Persia. The current sultana Roselane (

Hürrem Sultan Hürrem Sultan (; , "''the joyful one''"; 1505– 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana (), was the chief consort, the first Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and the mothe ...

), mother of Zanghire and stepmother of Selimo, together with Grand Vizier Rustano (

Rüstem Pasha Rüstem Pasha (; ; 1505 – 10 July 1561) was an Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier to Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Rüstem Pasha is also known as Damat Rüstem Pasha (the epithet ''damat'' meaning 'son-in-law') as a result of ...

) intrigue to eliminate Selimo and to make Zanghire sultan. Solimano goes to Babylon with Osmino and his sister Barsina, who is engaged to Zanghire. There Zanghire proves to be loyal to his brother, reveals the intrigue and kills Rustano. Selimo and his father are reconciled and both original lovers (Selimo and Persane, Zanghire and Barsina) are allowed to marry.

Second version

The second version was noteworthy in moving forward the reforms taking place in opera style in the mid-18th century. It contains elements of baroque-style

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 ...

but mixes them with elements of

opera buffa Opera buffa (, "comic opera"; : ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramma bernesc ...

. Compared with traditional Metastasian operatic aesthetics, the libretto for ''Solimano'' allowed greater fluency and emotional sensitivity. Many typical features of baroque opera are attenuated in this version. The ritornelli in each aria are much briefer, and exit arias are often absent. The

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 ...

is mostly orchestrated throughout rather than "secco", and many ensembles are

through-composed In the theory of musical form, through-composed music is a continuous, non- sectional, and non- repetitive piece of music. The term is typically used to describe songs, but can also apply to instrumental music. While most musical forms such as te ...

, combining aria, recitative and chorus in an integrated whole. The vocal lines were generally written to be delivered in a smooth

cantabile Cantabile is a term in music meaning to perform in a singing style. The word is taken from the Italian language and literally means "singable" or "songlike". In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human ...

style, while the orchestral parts supporting them called for a more detached execution.

Premiere cast

The cast of the first performance of the second version were: Luigi Torriani (Solimano), (Selimo), Giovanni Battista Vazques (Persane), Giuseppe Orsi (Barsina), Lorenzo Maruzzi (Zanghire), Lorenzo Giorgetti (Osmino).

Modern revival

Modern performances of the 1768 version took place in 2010 and again in 2011 under Juan Bautista Otero, with the

Real Compañía Ópera de Cámara Real may refer to: Currencies * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, rathe ...

as part of the

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

Music Festival.

External links

List of Davide Pérez stage works''Solimano'' (David Perez) in the Corago Information System of the University of BolognaOriginal libretto of the 1768 premiere, digital copy

References

{{reflist Compositions by Davide Perez Italian-language operas 1757 operas Operas set in the 16th century Opera in Portugal Operas