Francesco Araja

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Francesco Araja

Francesco Domenico Araja (or Araia,

States of the Church) was an Italian composer who spent 25 years in Russia and wrote at least 14 operas for the Russian Imperial Court including Tsefal i Prokris, the first opera in Russian.[1]

Biography

He was born and received his musical education in Naples and began to compose operas at the age of 20. His early operas were produced in the theatres of

Elizaveta Petrovna
.

In the winter operas were usually given in a wing of the

Letniy Sad in the Summer Garden
.

His La forza dell'amore e dell'odio was the first Italian opera performed in Russia. It was staged in 1736 as Сила любви и ненависти (Sila lyubvi i nenavisti - The Power of Love and Hatred) with a supplement to the Russian translation by

St. Petersburg
1745, Mitridate in 1747, and others.

The majority of the operas he wrote in Russia were to Italian libretti. However, in 1755 Araja composed Цефал и Прокрис (

St. Petersburg
on June 14, 2001.

His next two operas were premiered in different Russian towns: Amor prigioniero in Oranienbaum in 1755, and Iphigenia in Tauride in Moscow in 1758. In 1759 Araia returned to Italy, but was recalled for the coronation of Tsar Peter III in 1762. He left soon after in the wake of Peter's overthrow by Catherine the Great. His last compositions were the oratorio La Nativita di Gesu and the opera La Cimotea. He died in Bologna sometime between 1762 and 1770.

Works

Operas

  • Lo matremmonejo pe' mennetta, opera buffa, text by Tommaso Mariani (Autumn 1729, Teatro de' Fiorentini, Naples)
  • Berenice, opera seria, text by Antonio Salvi (1730, Teatro Pratolino, Florence)
  • Ciro riconosciuto, opera seria, text by Antonio Salvi (Carnival 1731, Teatro Dame, Rome)
  • Il Cleomene, opera seria, text by Vicenzo Cassani (Spring 1731, Teatro Dame, Rome)
  • L'amor regnante, text by Pietro Metastasio (1731, Rome)
  • Semiramide riconosciuta, opera seria, text by Pietro Metastasio (1731, Naples)
  • La forza dell'amore e dell'odio, opera seria, text by Francesco Prata (January 1734, Teatro Ducale, Milan; 1736, as Сила любви и ненависти (Sila lyubvi i nenavisti - The Power of Love and Hatred) St. Petersburg)
  • Lucio Vero, opera seria, text by Apostolo Zeno, (Carnival 1735, Teatro San Angelo, Venice)
  • Il finto Nino, overo La Semiramide riconosciuta, opera seria, text by
    St. Petersburg
    )
  • Artaserse, opera seria, (February 9, 1738 [OS January 28],
    St. Petersburg
    )
  • Seleuco, opera seria, text by Giuseppe Bonecchi (May 7, 1744 [OS April 26], Moscow)
  • Scipione, opera seria, text by Giuseppe Bonecchi (September 4 or 5, 1745 [OS August 23 or 24],
    St. Petersburg
    )
  • Mitridate, opera seria, text by Giuseppe Bonecchi (May 7, 1747 [OS April 26],
    St. Petersburg
    )
  • L'asilo della pace, opera seria, text by Giuseppe Bonecchi (May 7, 1748 [OS April 26],
    St. Petersburg
    )
  • Bellerofonte, opera seria, text by Giuseppe Bonecchi (December 9, 1750 [OS November 28],
    St. Petersburg
    )
  • Eudossa incoronata, o sia Teodosio II, text by Giuseppe Bonecchi (May 9, 1751 [OS April 28]
    St. Petersburg
    )
  • St. Petersburg
    )
  • Amor prigioniero, dialogo per musica, text by Pietro Metastasio (June 27, 1755 [OS June 16], Oranienbaum)
  • St. Petersburg; 1759, Oranienbaum
    )
  • Iphigenia in Tauride opera seria, (1758, Moscow)
  • La Cimotea

Oratorios

  • S. Andrea Corsini, 1731, Rome
  • La Nativita di Gesu

Cantatas

  • La gara, dell'amore e dello zelo,
    St. Petersburg
    , 1736
  • L’asilo della pace (Libretto
    St. Petersburg
    , 1748
  • La corona d'Allesandro Magno (
    St. Petersburg
    , 1750
  • Amor prigionero (Pietro Metastasio), Oranienbaum, 1755 (see also in the list of the operas)
  • Junon secourable lucine (Antonio Denzi), St. Petersburg, 1757
  • Urania vaticitante (
    St. Petersburg
    , 1757

Also: Sinfonia in D Major for strings, Sonatas, etc.

Notes

  1. ^ There is another arguable information that in 1751 Araja composed an opera Титово милосердие (La Clemenza di Tito) to the Russian libretto (probably translated from Italian) by famous Russian actor and later opera composer Fyodor Volkov.
  2. ^ Some sources provide an arguable information that this opera was actually performed in Russian by the Russian singers.
  3. ^ Half-imperial was a coin equal to 5 rubles in gold.

Bibliography

  • Цефал и Прокрис. СПб., – Tsefal i Pokris,
    St. Petersburg
    , 1755
  • Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона - Brokgaus & Efron: Encyclopaedic Dictionary, (1890—1907)
  • Штелин Я. Музыка и балет в России XVIII века in the collection Музыкальное наследство. Вып. 1. М., 1935
  • Старикова Л. М. Новые документы о деятельности итальянской труппы в России в 30-е годы XVIII века <...> // ПКНО. 1988. М., 1989
  • Сумароков А.П. Избранные произведения. Л., 1957
  • Сумароков А. П. Полное собрание сочинений <...>.Ч. IX. СПб., 1787
  • Ritzarev, Marina (2006), Eighteenth-Century Russian Music (Ashgate)
    ISBN 978-0-7546-3466-9

External links

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