Pimpinone

"Pimpinone" is a comic opera by the German composer Georg Philipp Telemann with a libretto by Johann Philipp Praetorius. Its full title is "Die Ungleiche Heirat zwischen Vespetta und Pimpinone oder Das herrsch-süchtige Camer Mägden" ("The Unequal Marriage Between Vespetta and Pimpinone or The Domineering Chambermaid"). The work is described as a "Lustiges Zwischenspiel" ("comic intermezzo") in three parts. It was first performed at the Theater am Gänsemarkt, Hamburg on 27 September 1725 as light relief between the acts of Telemann's adaptation of Handel's opera seria "Tamerlano". "Pimpinone" was highly successful and pointed the way forward to later intermezzi, particularly Pergolesi's "La serva padrona".

Roles

Plot

Vespetta the chambermaid wheedles her way into marrying her employer, old Pimpinone. Once married she shows her waspish nature (the name Vespetta means "little wasp") and completely dominates her husband.

Recordings

*"Pimpinone" Mechtild Bach, Michael Schopper, La Stagione, conducted by Michael Schneider (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 1993)

ources

*"The Viking Opera Guide" ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
* [http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jean-claude.brenac/TELEMANN_PIMPINONE.htm Magazine de l'opéra baroque (in French)]