''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 175 ...

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

Palace of Ajuda The Palace of Ajuda ( pt, Palácio da Ajuda, ) is a neoclassical monument in the civil parish of Ajuda in the city of Lisbon, central Portugal. Built on the site of a temporary wooden building constructed to house the Royal family after the 175 ...

in Lisbon. The revised version of 1768 performed for the birthday of Mariana Victoria of Spain is however much more widely known.

Action

A previous work entitled ''

Solimano ''Solimano'' is an opera in three acts composed by Johann Adolph Hasse to an Italian-language libretto by Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca. Loosely based on an episode in the life of Suleiman the Magnificent, the opera premiered on 5 February 175 ...

'' (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 ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...

) has sent his eldest son Selimo (

Selim II Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى ''Selīm-i sānī'', tr, II. Selim; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond ( tr, Sarı Selim) or Selim the Drunk ( tr, Sarhoş Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire ...

) and his half-brother Zanghire (

Şehzade Cihangir Şehzade Cihangir ( ota, شهزاده جهانگير; 1531 – 27 November 1553) was an Ottoman prince, the sixth and youngest child of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan. Life Cihangir was born in Constantinople in 1531 ...

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

Tahmasp I Tahmasp I ( fa, طهماسب, translit=Ṭahmāsb or ; 22 February 1514 – 14 May 1576) was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 to 1576. He was the eldest son of Ismail I and his principal consort, Tajlu Khanum. Ascending the throne after t ...

). 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 Hurrem Sultan (, ota, خُرّم سلطان, translit=Ḫurrem Sulṭān, tr, Hürrem Sultan, label= Modern Turkish; 1500 – 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana ( uk, Роксолана}; ), was the chief consort and legal wife of the Ottom ...

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

Rüstem Pasha Rüstem Pasha (; ota, رستم پاشا; 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 's ...

) 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 a ...

but mixes them with elements of

opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''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'', ''dramm ...

. 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 repea ...

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

through-composed In music 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 ...

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

cantabile In music, ''cantabile'' , an Italian word, means literally "singable" or "songlike". In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice. For 18th-century composers, ''cantabile'' is often synonymous w ...

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 as part of the

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

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 Italian-language operas 1757 operas Operas set in the 16th century Opera in Portugal Operas