Griselda is a dramma per musica

Dramma per musica

Dramma per musica is a term which was used by dramatists in Italy and elsewhere between the late-17th and mid-19th centuries...

 in three acts that was composed by Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...

. The opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 uses a revised version of the 1701 Italian libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Apostolo Zeno

Apostolo Zeno

Apostolo Zeno was a Venetian poet, librettist, journalist, and man of letters.-Early life:Apostolo Zeno was born of Cretan Greek descent in Venice in 1669...

 that was based on Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...

's The Decameron

The Decameron

The Decameron, also called Prince Galehaut is a 14th-century medieval allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio, told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people....

(X, 10, "The Patient Griselda"). The celebrated Venetian

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 playwright Carlo Goldoni

Carlo Goldoni

Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty...

 was hired to adapt the libretto for Vivaldi. The opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 was first performed in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 at the Teatro San Samuele

Teatro San Samuele

Teatro San Samuele was an opera house and theatre located at the Rio del Duca, between Campo San Samuele and Campo Santo Stefano, in Venice. One of several important theatres built in that city by the Grimani family, the theatre opened in 1656 and operated continuously until a fire destroyed the...

 on 18 May 1735.

Composition history

Michael Talbot notes that "the particular fame of this opera arises from the fact that it involved a collaboration with Goldoni", although one which was initially fraught with problems, but he goes on to note that the two men eventually worked out an amiable compromise in the revision of an old libretto to fit the vocal limitations of the first Griselda, Anna Girò.

Performance history

The opera was not given its UK premiere until 23 July 1983 as part of the Buxton Festival

Buxton Festival

The Buxton Festival is an annual summer festival of opera, music, and a literary series, held in Buxton, Derbyshire in England since it began in July 1979.-History:...

, while in the US, it was not presented until 2000. Today, Griselda is rarely performed, but it features as one of the 2011 festival season presentations of the Santa Fe Opera

Santa Fe Opera

The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...

. Pinchgut Opera (Sydney) will stage four perfomances November-December 2011 in the City Recital Hall.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 18 May 1735
Griselda, wife of Gualtiero	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Anna Giro Anna Girò Anna Girò , or Anna Giraud La Mantovana, was the stage name of Anna Maddalena Teseire, an Italian contralto. She is best known for her collaborations with composer Antonio Vivaldi, who wrote several operatic roles for her....
Gualtiero, King of Thessaly	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Gregorio Balbi
Roberto, brother of Corrado	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...  (originally castrato Castrato A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's... )	Gaetano Valletti
Corrado, Prince of Puglia	contralto	Elisabetta Gasparin
Costanza, missing daughter of Griselda and Gualtiero	soprano	Margherita Giacomazzi
Ottone, a Sicilian nobleman	soprano (originally castrato)	Lorenzo Saletti

Act One

Years before the action begins, Gualtiero, King of Sicily, had married a poor shepherdess, Griselda. The marriage was deeply unpopular with the king's subjects and when a daughter, Costanza, was born, the king had to pretend to have her killed while secretly sending her to be brought up by Prince Corrado of Apulia. Now, faced with another rebellion from the Sicilians, Gualtiero is forced to renounce Griselda and promises to take a new wife. The proposed bride is in fact Costanza, who is unaware of her true parentage. She is in love with Corrado's younger brother, Roberto, and the thought of being forced to marry Gualtiero drives her to despair.

Act Two

Griselda returns to her home in the countryside where she is pursued by the courtier Ottone, who is in love with her. She angrily rejects his advances. Gualtiero and his followers go out hunting and come across Griselda's cottage. Gualtiero foils an attempt by Ottone to kidnap Griselda and allows her back to the court, but only as Costanza's slave.

Act Three

Ottone still resolutely pursues Griselda and Gualtiero promises him her hand as soon as he himself has married Costanza. Griselda declares she would rather die and, moved by her faithfulness, Gualtiero takes her back as his wife. He reveals the true identity of Costanza and allows her to marry Roberto.

Recordings

Year	Cast (Griselda, Gualtiero, Roberto, Costanza, Ottone, Corrado)	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
2005	Marie-Nicole Lemieux Marie-Nicole Lemieux Marie-Nicole Lemieux is a Canadian contralto. She first came to the world's attention in 2000 when she became the first Canadian to win first prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Belgium... Steffano Ferrari Philippe Jaroussky Philippe Jaroussky Philippe Jaroussky is a French sopranist countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory and then took up the piano before turning to singing...   Verónica Cangemi Simone Kermes Simone Kermes Simone Kermes is a German coloratura soprano, especially known for her virtuoso voice, suited to the opera seria genre, of the Baroque and early Classical repertoires.-Biography:... Iestyn Davies	Jean-Christophe Spinosi Jean-Christophe Spinosi Jean-Christophe Spinosi is a French conductor and violinist, the founder of Quatuor Matheus , a group that later grew into Ensemble Matheus. He is especially well-known for his interpretation of the instrumental and vocal music of the Baroque, most notably the operas of Vivaldi... Ensemble Matheus	Audio CD: naïve
2006	Marion Newman Giles Tomkins Lynne McMurtry Carla Huhtanen Colin Ainsworth Nedecky	Kevin Mallon Aradia Ensemble	Audio CD: Naxos Cat: 8.660211-13

Note: "Cat:" is short for catalogue number by the label company.