Ascanio in Alba

Ascanio in Alba (Ascanio in Alba) is an opera in two acts, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1771) based on a text by Giuseppe Parini in Italian. It is numbered KV 111.

It was composed at the request of Empress María Teresa, for the wedding of her son, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. It premiered at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan on October 17, 1771.

It is subtitled Festa teatrale in due parti (Theatrical party in two parts).

History

It was commissioned by the Empress, through the Governor General of Lombardy, based in Milan, Karl Joseph Cande Firmian (1716-1781), on the occasion of the wedding of her son, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1754 -1806), with Maria Beatriz d'Este (1750-1829), heiress of Breisgau and Modena. This commission motivated Mozart's second trip to Italy, where he stayed for the second half of the year 1771.

It was performed at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan on October 17, 1771.

The singers of the premiere are known:

Venus, soprano, Geltrude Falchini or Facchini

Ascanio, mezzosoprano castrado, Giovanni Manzuoli, very admired by Mozart

Silvia, soprano, Maria Girelli or Girelli-Aguilar

Areas, tenor, Giuseppe Tibaldi

Fauna, soprano castrado, Adamo Solzi

It turned out to be a resounding success, dwarfing the event's official opera, Ruggiero, by Johann Adolph Hasse, which had been performed the day before. As A. Poggi points out in his Mozart. Complete repertoire, Mozart's prize was “a watch, in gold and diamonds, decorated with an enamel portrait of the empress”, as well as the promise of future work, which did not materialise. Three more performances followed. It was not performed again until the XX century, thanks to Bernhard Paumgartner (1958).

This opera is rarely performed; in Operabase Statistics Archived May 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine the 224th of the operas performed in 2005-2010 appears, being the 34th in Austria and the nineteenth by Mozart, with 12 performances in the period.

Plot

The action takes place on the site of the future city of Alba Longa, near Rome, in mythical times.

Part One

In the opening scene the goddess Venus and Ascanio, the son she had by Aeneas, appear. The goddess shows her son the beautiful landscape where the city of Alba will arise. It is a bucolic place, populated by nymphs and shepherds who venerate it. Ascanio should reign over this city, after marrying Silvia, a nymph of the lineage of Hercules, who is his fiancée.

Ascanio is worried because Silvia doesn't know him. Her mother reveals to her that for four years Amor has appeared to her in dreams with the face of Ascanio himself, and thus has conquered the young woman's heart. The goddess urges him not to reveal her identity to Silvia, but to adopt a false one to test her virtue.

Meanwhile, the priest Aceste is preparing the wedding. Faun and the shepherds sing praises to Venus. Obeying the goddess, Ascanio pretends to be a foreigner attracted by the beauties of the place. Aceste tells the shepherds that his valley will be the site of a beautiful city, and that they will have a sovereign, Ascanio, before the end of the day; and tells Silvia that she will be Ascanio's girlfriend. The nymph Silvia replies that she is in love with a young man she has seen in a dream. The priest reassures her, telling her that this young man cannot be other than Ascanio.

Part Two

Ascanio discovers Silvia among the shepherds and goes to her. The girl immediately recognizes the young man from her dreams. Fauno intervenes and suggests "the stranger" (Ascanio) Let him go. Convinced that the foreigner is not her Ascanio's fiancé, Silvia escapes from her declaring she will never marry anyone. Aceste comforts Silvia, saying that her tribulations are about to end. The shepherds and the nymphs, as well as Aceste and Silvia, sing magnificent choruses in honor of the goddess. Silvia and Ascanio join their voices to the chorus and the goddess descends in her chariot, surrounded by clouds, accompanied by the Graces and Geniuses. Ascanio reveals the identity of him..

Venus unites the two lovers and explains how she wanted her son to discover his girlfriend's virtue. Aceste swears an oath of fidelity and loyalty to Venus, and she is withdrawn from her. It only remains for Ascanio to perpetuate the lineage of Aeneas and govern the city of Alba.

Musical assessment

Mozart at the Abbey of Melk (1771)

• Original instrumentation

The orchestra consists of strings, two flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani, and basso continuo.

• Booklet

The libretto by Abbe Giuseppe Parini (1729-1799) is a pastoral-allegorical comedy, in the typical manner of Italian courtly commemorations.

• Musical structure

It has 22 musical episodes: the “Obertura” (sic), three areas, a cavatina, fifteen choirs, a trio and a ballet.

Of the vocal pieces in this opera, the following stand out:

Act I

No. 3 Aria de Venus: L’ombra de’ rami tuoi

No. 8 Aria de: Se il labbro più non dice

N.o 14 Aria de Silvia: Come è felice stato

N.o 16 Aria de Ascanio: Ah, say if noble soul

Act II

N.o 19 Aria de Silvia: Spiega il desio

N.o 23 Aria de Silvia: Infelici affetti miei

No. 25 Aria de Ascanio: Torna, my bene, ascolta

No. 28 Coro de pastores, ninfas y pastoras: Scendi, celestial Venere

N.o 31 Terceto de Silvia, Ascanio y Aceste: Ah, expensive spousy, oh Dio!

• Rating

Mozart was fifteen when he composed it. It is a true baroque opera, in which the stage machine and theatrical artifices on the development of the drama dominate. In addition, the empress was directly praised, represented allegorically as Venus, who tutored her son Ascanio (Archduke Ferdinand) when he married the beautiful Silvia (a transcript of María Beatriz de Módena).

It was a work adjusted to the age and talent of the composer, without dramatic demands, and with the only obligation to assemble a series of choirs, dances, recitatives, covering each piece with his best musical mantle. "Mozart knew how to compose recitatives with and without accompaniment, as well as virtuoso flourishes for sopranos" (A. Einstein, cited by Poggi, A.)

Discography

There is a recording of this opera, conducted by Leopold Hager, with Arleen Augér, Edith Mathis, Agnes Baltsa, Peter Schreier, Salzburg Chamber Choir and the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra (Philips). There is another, from the Naxos label, conducted by Jacques Grimbert, with Lorna Windsor, Michael Chance, Jill Feldman, Howard Milner and Rosa Mannion, the Budapest Harmonic Concerto and the Paris-Sorbonne University Choir.