Ottone in villa

Antonio Vivaldi
Operas 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) La Silvia (1721) 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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Ottone in villa (RV 729) is an opera in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi to an Italian libretto by Domenico Lalli (the pseudonym of Sebastiano Biancardi). It was Vivaldi's first opera and premiered on 17 May 1713 at the Teatro delle Grazie in Vicenza.^[1] Lalli's pastoral drama is set in ancient Rome and was a condensed adaptation of Francesco Maria Piccioli's satirical libretto for Carlo Pallavicino's opera Messalina (1679). However, Lalli changed several of the characters in Piccioli's libretto. Messalina became an invented character, Cleonilla. Emperior Claudius became another Roman Emperor, Otho (Ottone), who had already appeared as a protagonist in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642) and in Handel's Agrippina (1709).^[2]

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 17 May 1713
Cleonilla	soprano	Anna Maria Giusti "La Romanina" [3]
Ottone	contralto	Diana Vico
Caio Silio	soprano castrato	Bartolomeo Bartoli
Decio	tenor	Gaetano Mossi
Tullia	soprano	Margherita Fazzoli

Synopsis

The Roman Emperor Ottone is in love with Cleonilla, who can't resist flirting with two young Romans, Ostilio and Caio. Ostilio is in reality a woman, Tullia, who disguised herself because she's in love with Caio. She plans to kill Cleonilla out of jealousy, but she first tries to dissuade her from her relation with Caio. Caio sees the meeting and misinterprets it as a romantic encounter. He warns Ottone, who commands him to kill Ostilio. Before he can execute the order, Ostilio reveals himself to be Tullia. Cleonilla claims to have always known it, to conciliate Ottone. He believes her and the opera closes with the marriage of Tullia and Caio.

Recordings

• Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Patrizia Pace (Cleonilla, soprano), Anna Maria Ferrante (Tullia, soprano), Aris Christofellis (Caio, male soprano), Jean Nirouët (Ottone, countertenor), Luigi Petroni (Decio, tenor); Ensemble Seicentonovecento; Flavio Colusso (conductor). Recorded September 1993. Label: Bongiovanni 10016/18.
• Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Susan Gritton (Cleonilla, soprano), Monica Groop (Ottone, mezzosoprano), Nancy Argenta (Caio Silio, soprano), Mark Padmore (Decio, tenor), Sophie Daneman (Tullia, soprano); Collegium Musicum 90; Richard Hickox (conductor). Performing Edition (1997) by Eric Cross. Label: Chandos Chaconne 0614. ^[4]
• Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Maria Laura Martorana (Cleonilla, soprano), Tuva Semmingsen (Ottone, mezzosoprano), Florin Cezar Ouatu (Caio Silio, countertenor), Luca Dordolo (Decio, tenor), Marina Bartoli (Tullia, soprano); L'Arte dell'Arco; Federico Guglielmo (conductor). Performing edition by Federico Guglielmo (2008 revision) from the manuscript by Vittorio Bolcato. Label: Brilliant Classics 94105.

Notes and references

1. ^ Casaglia ("17 Maggio 1713, Mercoledì"). Note that while most sources give the premiere venue as the Teatro delle Grazie, Strohm (1985, p.141) gives it as the Teatro Nuovo di Piazza. There is considerable confusion in the names of the theatres in Vicenza. Initially, the Teatro delle Grazie was called the Nuovo Teatro delle Grazie and co-existed with the Teatro di Piazza. According to Folena and Arnaldi (1976, p. 295), the Teatro delle Grazie was built on the site of the Teatro delle Garzerie which burnt down in 1683.
2. ^ Ketterer (2008, pp. 61-62)
3. ^ Premiere cast list from Strohm (1985, p.141). See also Casaglia.
4. ^ Vasta (November 1998)

Sources

• Casaglia, Gherardo, "17 Maggio 1713, Mercoledì", Almanacco Amadeus, Accessed 7 May 2009.
• Folena, Gianfranco and Arnaldi, Girolamo, Storia della cultura veneta, Vol. 5, pt. 1, N. Pozza, 1976.
• Ketterer, Robert C., Ancient Rome in Early Opera, University of Illinois Press, 2008. ISBN 0252033787
• Strohm, Reinhard, Essays on Handel and Italian opera, Cambridge University Press Archive, 1985. ISBN 0521264286
• Vasta, Stephen Francis, "Records: Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa", Opera News, November 1998. Accessed 7 May 2009.