Ezio (Mysliveček, 1777)

Ezio is an eighteenth-century Italian

Aetius. For a performance in the 1770s, it would only be expected that a libretto of such age would be abbreviated and altered to suit contemporary operatic taste. The cuts and changes in the text made for the 1777 performance of Mysliveček's opera are not attributable. All of Mysliveček's operas are of the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria

.

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the

Teatro San Carlo to engage him for a series of operas in Naples in 1778–79. Mysliveček's intervention enabled Marchesi to establish himself permanently as one of the leading singers in Italy. Except for Marchesi's singing, the opera was not considered to have been particularly successful, and it was overshadowed by the overwhelming success of Mysliveček's oratorio Isacco, figura del redentore

, which was performed in the same theater only a few weeks after the run of Ezio ended.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 10 January 1777, Hoftheater, Munich
Valentiniano III, emperor of Rome, in love with Fulvia	soprano castrato	Tommaso Consoli
Fulvia, daughter of Massimo, a Roman patrician, in love with Ezio and betrothed to him	soprano	Angela Gallieni
Ezio, general of the imperial armies, in love with Fulvia	soprano castrato	Luigi Marchesi
Onoria, sister of Valentiniano, secretly in love with Ezio	soprano	Rosa Manservisi
Massimo, Roman patrician, father of Fulvia, confidant and secret enemy of Valentiniano	tenor	Domenico de Panzacchi
Varo, prefect of the Praetorian guard, friend of Ezio	tenor	uncertain ("Il Sig. N.N.")

Vocal set pieces

Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Valentiniano, "Se tu la reggi al volo"
Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Ezio, "Pensa a serbarmi, o cara"
Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Fulvia, "Caro padre, a me non dei"
Act I, scene 5 - Aria of Massimo, "Il nocchier che si figura"
Act I, scene 7 - Aria of Onoria, "Quanto mai felici siete"
Act I, scene 9 - Aria of Valentiniano, "So chi t'accese"
Act I, scene 11 - Aria of Ezio, "Guarda pria"
Act I, scene 12 - Aria of Fulvia, "Finche un zeffiro soave"

Act II, scene 3 - Aria of Valentiniano, "Vi fida lo sposo"
Act II, scene 4 - Aria of Massimo, "Va, dal furor portata"
Act II, scene 6 - Aria of Ezio, "Recagli quell'acciaro"
Act II, scene 7 - Aria of Fulvia, "Quel fingere affetto"
Act II, scene 8 - Aria of Varo, "Nasce al bosco in rozza cuna"
Act II, scene 10 - Aria of Onoria, "Finché per te mi palpita"
Act II, scene 13 - Quartetto "Ecco alle mie catene"

Act III, scene 1 - Aria of Onoria, "Peni tu per un'ingrata"
Act III, scene 2 - Aria of Valentiniano, "Con le procelle in seno"
Act III, scene 5 - Rondò of Ezio, "Mi dona, mi rende" [a non-Metastasian text]
Act III, scene 10 - Aria of Massimo, "Tergi l'ingiuste lagrime"
Act III, scene 11 - Aria of Fulvia, "Ah, non son io che parlo"
Act III, scene 13- Coro "Della vita nel dubbio cammino"
Act III, scene 14 - Chorus, "Della vita ne' dubbio camino"

References

^ Documentation concerning the Munich performance of Mysliveček's Ezio of 1777 is found in Daniel E. Freeman, Josef Mysliveček, "Il Boemo" (Sterling Heights, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 2009). More detailed information is found in German in Karl Böhmer, W. A. Mozarts "Idomeneo" und die Tradition der Karnevalsopern in München (Tutzing, 1999), pp. 84-87.

[1] Documentation concerning the Munich performance of Mysliveček's Ezio of 1777 is found in Daniel E. Freeman, Josef Mysliveček, "Il Boemo" (Sterling Heights, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 2009). More detailed information is found in German in Karl Böhmer, W. A. Mozarts "Idomeneo" und die Tradition der Karnevalsopern in München (Tutzing, 1999), pp. 84-87.

Performance history

Roles

Vocal set pieces

See also

References