Mithridates, King of Pontus

Mithridates, King of Ponto (original Italian title, Mitridate, Re di Ponto) is an opera seria in three acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto in Italian by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi. It is numbered KV 87. In the latest Köchel catalogue, K⁶ 74a. It was composed at the request of Count Firmian, Governor of Milan and patron. It premiered at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan on December 26, 1770.

Characters

Plot

The story told in the opera takes place in Ninfea, a Crimean port in the Kingdom of Pontus in the year 63 BC. C. The protagonist is King Mithridates VI Eupator (132-63 BC). Engaged in his struggles against the Romans, he leaves his fiancée Aspasia in the care of her children: Farnaces and Sifares. After suffering a severe defeat, Mithridates is left for dead.

Act I

Scene 1

Arbate, the governor of Nymphea, welcomes Sifares who is angry with his brother, Pharnaces, because of his strong ties to the Romans, his enemies. Arbate swears allegiance to Sifares. Aspasia begs Sifares to help her resist Farnaces' advances. Sifares accepts her pleas, and at the same time reveals her love for her. Aspasia secretly loves Sifares.

Scene 2

Pharnaces, the eldest son, offers his love to Aspasia, who rejects him with the support of Sifares, who protects her from her powerful brother. News arrives that Mithridates is alive and approaching the city. Arbate urges the brothers to get over their differences and say hello to his father. Pharnaces conspires with Marzio, a Roman tribune, against Mithridates.

Scene 3

Mithridates arrives in Nymphea with princess Ismene, daughter of the Parthian king, to offer her as his wife to his son Pharnaces. Mithridates wants Pharnaces to marry Ismene, his fiancée. Ismene is in love with Farnaces. Arbate tells Mithridates that Pharnaces is after Aspasia, but does not mention Sifares. Jealous, Mithridates swears revenge on Pharnaces.

Act II

Scene 1

Pharnaces despises and threatens Ismene, and she tells Mithridates, who suggests that she marry Sifares. Mithridates asks Aspasia to marry immediately, but she hesitates, proving her infidelity. Aspasia confesses her love to Sifares, but they agree to separate to safeguard her honor. Sifares plans to leave and Aspasia is left worried, immersed in the conflict between her love and duty.

Scene 2

Mithridates is aware of Pharnaces and the Romans plotting against him, and plans to take revenge, despite Marzio's offer of peace. He arrests Farnaces, accused of treason. Ismene saves Prince Farnaces, confesses everything to his father and is imprisoned. Aspasia and Sifares declare their love and are ready to die, fearing Mithridates.

Act III

Scene 1

Ismene, still in love with Pharnaces, tries to convince Mithridates to forgive Aspasia and Sifares. The Romans, led by Marzio, attack and Mithridates prepares for battle. Aspasia thinks of committing suicide by ingesting poison, and only the intervention of Sifares manages to save her. Sifares also wants to die and joins his father in battle.

Scene 2

Marzio frees Pharnaces and promises him his father's throne if he helps him. But the prince changes his mind, regrets his betrayal and joins his father's army.

Scene 3

Mithridates is wounded in combat and he throws himself on his sword to commit suicide, faced with defeat. Before dying, he forgives his children and gives his blessing to Sifares and Aspasia, while Farnaces declares himself willing to marry Ismene. In the final quintet, Sifares, Aspasia, Farnaces, Ismene and Arbate declare their intention to take revenge on the Romans and fight those who intend to end the freedom of the entire world.

Roman bust in marble of Mitrídates VI (centuryI)

Musical assessment

• Original instrumentation

Originally performed with 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 4 horns, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings, and basso continuo.

• Booklet

The original text was Racine's Mithridate (1673); It was translated by the abbé Giuseppe Parini. Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi versified this translation for Mozart's opera. This poet lived in Turin and sent the libretto to Milan in parts. The story of Mithridates had already been set to music before, by Quirino Gasparini.

• Musical structure

It consists of an overture, twenty-one arias, a cavata, a cavatina, a duet and a final chorus. Mozart interspersed seven accompanied recitatives. Of the vocal pieces of this opera, the following stand out:

No. 4 Aria de Aspasia: Nel sen mi palpita

No. 7 Aria de Mitrídates: Se di lauri il crine ornamento

N.o 13 Aria of Aspasia: Nel grave torment

No. 17 Duo de Sifares y Aspasia: Se viver non degg’io. Duo at the end of the second act in which the two declare their love.

N.o 18 Aria de Ismene: Your sai per chi m’accese

• Premiere

It was composed to inaugurate the musical season, by Count Firmian, Milanese governor and patron. The circumstances of its composition and premiere can be traced through the letters of Leopold Mozart. It premiered with great success at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan on December 26, 1770.

This first performance aroused the enthusiasm of the public, in Parini and in all the singers. The castrated Pietro Benedetti stated that if the public was not delighted with the final duet of the second act, "he would have himself castrated a second time." After that first performance, there were another twenty on the same stage, Mozart conducting the first four. It was not performed again until the 20th century. It was performed in Salzburg in 1977 in a concert version.

This opera is rarely performed; in Operabase statistics, it appears as number 163 of the operas performed in 2005-2010, being the 24th in Austria and the 14th by Mozart, with 19 performances in the period.

• Rating

Mozart wrote Mitridate while traveling in Italy in 1770. He was fourteen years old. It was his first experience with opera seria. He received a hundred guilders and maintenance for the five months it took him to compose it. Like the rest of his early operas, it closely follows the Italian model.

Discography

• There is a recording of this opera, led by Leopold Hager, with Arleen Augér, Edita Gruberová, Agnes Baltsa, Ileana Cotrubas, Werner Hollweg, and the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg (1976, Philips)

A DVD recording by Charles T. Downey (2006, Ionarts) is also available.

• Christophe Rousset, orchestra Les Talents Lyriques - Giuseppe Sabbatini, Natalie Dessay, Cecilia Bartoli, Brian Asawa, Sandrine Piau - 1998 - Decca

• Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum - Marcel Reijans, Francine van der Heyden, Marijje van Stralen, Johannette Zomer, Cecile van de Sant, Young-Hee Kim, Alexei Grigorev - 2001- Brilliant Classics