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Orazi e Curiazi

Orazi e Curiazi

Overview
Orazi e Curiazi (The Horatii and the Curiatii) is an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...

 composer Saverio Mercadante
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas.-Biography:While Mercadante never attained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioacchino Rossini, he composed as impressive a number of works as either, and it was he more than they who developed...

. It takes the form of a tragedia lirica in three acts. The libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...

, by Salvadore Cammarano is based on the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 legend of the fight between the Horatii and the Curiatii
Horatii
According to Livy, the Horatii were male triplets from Rome. During a war between Rome and Alba Longa during the reign of Tullus Hostilius , it was agreed that settlement of the war would depend on the outcome of a battle between the Horatii and the Curiatii...

. It was first performed at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples
Naples
Naples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...

 on 10 November 1846.
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Encyclopedia
Orazi e Curiazi (The Horatii and the Curiatii) is an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...

 composer Saverio Mercadante
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas.-Biography:While Mercadante never attained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioacchino Rossini, he composed as impressive a number of works as either, and it was he more than they who developed...

. It takes the form of a tragedia lirica in three acts. The libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...

, by Salvadore Cammarano is based on the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 legend of the fight between the Horatii and the Curiatii
Horatii
According to Livy, the Horatii were male triplets from Rome. During a war between Rome and Alba Longa during the reign of Tullus Hostilius , it was agreed that settlement of the war would depend on the outcome of a battle between the Horatii and the Curiatii...

. It was first performed at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples
Naples
Naples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...

 on 10 November 1846.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast
Conductor: Antonio Farelli
Orazio baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of classical male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος, meaning 'deep sounding', music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second G below middle C to the F above...

Pietro Balzar
Curiazo 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...

Gaetano Fraschini
Old Orazio bass Marco Arati
Marco Arati
Marco Arati was an Italian operatic bass active during the 1840s through the 1880s. Although he occassionally appeared at other opera houses in Italy, he was primarily committed to the Teatro di San Carlo where he sang roles for more than four decades...

Old Curiazo tenor Capranica Jr.
Camilla soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...

Erminia Frezzolini
Sabina mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...

Anna Salvetti
High Priest tenor Teofilo Rossi

Selected recordings

Year Cast
(Orazio, Camilla, Curiazo, Old Orazio)
Conductor,
Opera House and Orchestra
Label
1993 Nelly Miricioiu
Nelly Miricioiu
Nelly Miricioiu is a British operatic soprano of Romanian birth, one of the most versatile artists of recent years, singing a large repertoire ranging from bel canto to verismo with equal success.-Biography:...

,
Anthony Michaels-Moore,
Marcus Jerome,
Alastair Miles
David Parry,
Philharmonia Orchestra and the Mitchell Choir
Audio CD: Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded by Patric Schmid and Don White. It was originally created to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti as well as such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini and Saverio Mercadante...


ORC 12

Sources

  • Holden, Amanda, ed. The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2001 ISBN 0 140 29312 4
  • Amadeus Online