L'anima del filosofo

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L'anima del filosofo
Opera by Joseph Haydn
Portrait of Haydn by Thomas Hardy, 1791
TranslationThe Soul of the Philosopher
Other titleOrfeo ed Euridice
LibrettistCarlo Francesco Badini
LanguageItalian
Based onMyth of Orpheus
Premiere
9 June 1951 (1951-06-09)

L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice (The Soul of the Philosopher, or Orpheus and Euridice),

Euridice as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Composed in 1791 for His Majesty's Theatre during his first visit to England,[1] the opera was never performed during Haydn's lifetime and only given its formal premiere in 1951.[2]

Background

After his patron Prince

King George III and the Prince of Wales he was refused permission to stage it in May 1791. There are some uncertainties about why the opera was banned at the time.[clarification needed
]

The score was nearly completed but was not published in its complete form before the 20th century. It was partially published by Breitkopf & Härtel in c. 1807.[3]

Various manuscripts were scattered in several European libraries.[4] H. C. Robbins Landon did much to assemble the available scores.

Performance history

L'anima del filosofo remained unperformed until 9 June 1951, when it appeared at the Teatro della Pergola, Florence, with a cast including Maria Callas and Boris Christoff, under the conductor Erich Kleiber.

The UK premiere was in 1955, a concert performance at the

St Pancras Festival. This was the debut of the baritone Derek Hammond-Stroud.[5]
It has been performed and recorded several times since then. The opera makes extensive use of the chorus.

Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 9 June 1951[6]
Conductor: Erich Kleiber
Orfeo tenor Thyge Thygesen
Euridice soprano Maria Callas
Plutone bass Mario Frosini
Creonte bass Boris Christoff
Baccante soprano Liliana Poli
Genio soprano Julanna Farkas
First courtier baritone Camillo Righini
Second courtier/Warrior tenor Gino Orlandini
Third courtier baritone Edio Peruzzi
Fourth courtier tenor Lido Pettini

Instrumentation

The opera is scored for a 12-instrument classical chamber orchestra:

Music

Haydn borrowed previously composed music as the basis for select portions of the opera. One notable example is Genio's "C Major" aria which was a reformed version of Flaminia's aria "Ragion nell'alma siede" from the 1773 opera, Philemon und Baucis.[7]

Recordings

References

  1. JSTOR 765813
    .
  2. .
  3. ^ Joseph Haydn : Orfeo ed Euridice (L'anima del filosofo) 1951 edition, Haydn Society Boston
  4. ^ The opera whose time hadn't come, Haydn Seek
  5. ^ Millington, Barry (27 May 2012). "Derek Hammond-Stroud obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  6. ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "L´anima del filosofo ossia Orfeo e Euridice, 9 June 1951". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  7. JSTOR 2738171
    .

External links