Tamerlano (Gasparini opera)

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Francesco Gasparini - Tamerlano - title page of the libretto - Venice 1711[Note 1]
sketch of Francesco Gasparini

Tamerlano (“Tamerlane”) is a tragic opera in three acts by Francesco Gasparini based on a libretto by Agostino Piovene. It was first performed at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice on 24 January 1711.[1][Note 1][2]: 30 

Piovene’s libretto was based on Tamerlan ou La mort de Bajazet by Jacques Pradon (1675).[3] It was Piovene’s second libretto as well as his second collaboration with Gasparini.[4] Tamerlano was Gasparini’s most famous opera, distinguished by the unusual decision to assign the role of Bajazet to a tenor, Giovanni Paita, rather than to a castrato.[1][2]: 30 

Roles

The opera’s role were Tamerlano (soprano), Bajazet (tenor), Asteria (soprano), Andronico (alto), Irene (soprano), Clearco, Leone and Zaida.[1] The prima donna role was Astoria with nine arias; Bajazet had six, Tamerlano five, while Andronico and Irene had four each.[5]

Plot

The plot concerns a series of dilemmas facing the Turkish sovereign Bajazet who has been defeated and humiliated by Tamerlano, emperor of the Tartars. Tamerlane cannot destroy Bajazet because he loves his daughter Asteria; Bajazet wishes to end the humiliation of his defeat by committing suicide but fears for his daughter’s safety; Asteria would like to reject Tamerlane in favour of Andronico but cannot because of his complicity with Tamerlane; Andronico cannot openly declare his love for Asteria because of the bonds of duty to her father; Irene wants to end her engagement to Tamerlane but is obliged to wait. Finally Asteria, Andronico and Bajazet defy Tamerlane who condemns them all, bringing about a crisis that is resolved only by Bajazet’s suicide.[6] Only a couple of arias remain from the 1711 version.[4]

Later productions and adaptation

In 1714 Tamerlano was staged at the Teatro del Falcone [it] in Genoa.[7] In 1719 Gasparini revised the work for a new production in Reggio Emilia. Now entitled Bajazet, this new version starred tenor Francesco Borosini in the title role.[2]: 13 

George Frideric Handel certainly studied both of Gasparini’s versions of the opera before creating his own Tamerlano in 1724.[8]

External links

Note

  1. ^
    Venetian calendar
    marked the beginning of the year on 1 March, so by this reckoning the first performance (January 1711) was actually in late 1710, as indicated on the frontispiece of the libretto.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Tamerlano (Gasparini)". opérabaroque.fr. Opéra Baroque. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8047-9965-2
    .
  3. ISBN 978-2-84788-137-0
    .
  4. ^ a b "Il Tamerlano". opera manager.com. Opera Manager.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-816370-1
    .
  6. ^ Markstrom, Kurt. "Tamerlano (libretto by Piovene) ('Tamerlane')". oxfordmusiconline.com. Grove Music Online. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  7. ISBN 978-0-8357-1833-2
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-521-26428-0
    .
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