Griselda (Vivaldi).html



Operas by Antonio Vivaldi
Ottone in villa (1713) Orlando finto pazzo (1714) Nerone fatto Cesare (1715) Arsilda, regina di Ponto (1716) La costanza trionfante (1716) L'incoronazione di Dario (1717) Tieteberga (1717) Armida al campo d'Egitto (1718) Scanderbeg (1718) Teuzzone (1719) Tito Manlio (1719) La verità in cimento (1720) Ercole su'l Termodonte (1723) Dorilla in Tempe (1726) Farnace (1727) Orlando furioso (1727) Argippo (1730) Motezuma (1733) L'Olimpiade (1734) Bajazet (1735) Griselda (1735)
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Griselda is a dramma per musica in three acts that was composed by Antonio Vivaldi. The opera uses a revised version of the 1701 Italian libretto by Apostolo Zeno that was based on Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron (X, 10, "The Patient Griselda").¹ The celebrated Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni was hired to adapt the libretto for Vivaldi. The opera was first performed in Venice at the Teatro San Samuele on 18 May 1735.²

History

Griselda was composed towards the very end of Vivaldi’s career and was his only opera produced in Venice during the celebrations for the Feast of the Ascension.² The opera was also the first commission Vivaldi was given by the Grimani family, who were proprietors of the two main theatres in Venice.³ Goldoni, at that time a relatively unknown and young playwright, was hired by the manager of the Teatro San Samuele, Michele Grimani, to adapt the libretto to Vivaldi's needs. There are two slightly different accounts of the first meeting between the composer and playwright according to Goldoni's own letters. One account says that Vivaldi, initially sceptical of the inexperienced poet, was completely won over when he provided a new aria text on the spot. However, another account suggests that Vivaldi had instructed him through corespondance prior to there meeting to make certain alterations and that he was meerly pleased with the work that he had prepared ahead of time. Either way, Goldoni reduced the total number of scenes and cut the number of arias from 34 in the Zeno libretto to just 19. He also chopped all five of the duets from Zeno's version, added one trio, and provided many new aria texts for Vivaldi that employed clever use of simile, allowing more scope for the kind of pictorial writing Vivaldi specialized in with his concertos.¹

As with most baroque operas, Vivaldi's Griselda fell out of the repertory for many year with no known performances of the work occuring during the nineteenth century. It has only been within the last decade that the opera has enjoyed a resurgance of revivals which have resulted in a few recordings. These performances have been made possible through the work of musicologists Alberto Basso and Susan Orlando who transliterated the surviving score at the Biblioteca Nazionale in Turin.⁴

Music

Vivaldi's musical style within Griselda is much closer to that of his younger contemporaries than in his earlier operas. The only sections which resemble more of his old style are a number of arias that he recycled from earlier works, a common practice for Vivaldi and other composers of his day. Within his orchestration, Vivaldi frequently utilized repeated short violin figures to build musical texture. His music also emphasizes four-part strings throughout the opera and utilizes a pair of horns in two arias. The vocal writing utilizes a great deal of coloratura and virtuosic vocal runs and leaps, as in the well known Act II arias Agitata da due venti for the role of Costanza and Scocca dardi l’altero suo ciglio for the role of Ottone.¹

The title role, Griselda, was written for Anna Girò, who was a close friend of Vivaldi and possibly his lover.² According to Goldoni, she was a marvelous actress but a singer with a somewhat limited technique. The music Vivaldi wrote for her is highly energetic and emotionally expressive, and the mainly syllabic text-setting is written in a way that played to Girò's strengths and minimized her weaknesses as a singer. Griselda's haunting soliloquy at the end of Act I, the aria Ho il cor già lacero, contains original text by Goldoni, and its relentless rhythmic drive, sudden dynamic contrasts and adventurous harmonies make it one of the most dramatic, vivid, and emotional moments in the opera. Perhaps the most exciting moment of the opera is the trio at the end of Act 2, which not only provides some of the more intricate and intense musical moments but effectively dramatizes a climatic peak in the opera's plot.¹

Roles

Cover of the libretto for the premiere performance of Griselda

Synopsis

Place: Near Palermo in Sicily.

Detail from The Story of Patient Griselda, painted circa 1500

King Gualtiero has married Griselda, a peasant woman and his longtime mistress, and fears that she will not be accepted among the nobility. Concerned that a rebellion might arise, the king desides he must prove that Griselda is worthy to be their queen and the mother of their future king. He tests her virtue and steadfastness with a series of cruel ordeals, including telling her a lie that their long-lost daughter was killed on his orders. Gualtiero banishes Griselda from the court and announces that he intends to take another wife, the young woman Costanza, who is, unknown to all, their missing daughter. Costanza is highly upset over the king's proposal as she is in love with Roberto, the younger brother of Corrado, Prince of Puglia.⁶

Meanwhile, Griselda has returned to the humble cottage where she once lived. A beautiful woman, she has caught the attention of Ottone, a Sicilian nobleman, who attempts to woo her. After refusing him, Ottone threatens to kill her infant son, Everardo, unless she agrees to marry him. Griselda refuses and flees to the palcace where she is permitted to stay as a servant to Costanza. Gualtiero, as a final test, orders Griselda to marry Ottone, which she refuses to his satisfaction. The king reveals his true motive for tormenting her and accepts her again as his queen to the satisfaction of Costanza and Roberto who can now be reunited. Ottone, who confesses to have stirred up the nobles in the hope of winning Griselda, is forgiven.⁶

Recordings

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

References

External links

• Audio: Cecilia Bartoli sings Costanza's aria Agitata da due venti