Motezuma

Motezuma (original title in Italian; in Spanish, Moctezuma) is a dramma per musica in three acts with music by Antonio Vivaldi and libretto in Italian originally written by Girolamo Giusti, based on the book History of the conquest of Mexico, population and progress of northern America, known as New Spain by Antonio de Solís y Rivadeneyra, published in 1684 in Madrid. It premiered on November 14, 1733 at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice.

History

The premiere of this opera took place on November 14, 1733 at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice. This opera is mentioned in several reference books under the name Montezuma, but the recent discovery of the manuscripts has revealed that the original name is Motezuma

The music had been lost after the death of the composer, only the lyrics reaching our days. In 2002 the score was rediscovered in the library archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, an old choral ensemble with a rich musical tradition. After World War II, his library was looted by the Red Army and taken to the Soviet Union. After a long journey, the archive ended up in kyiv, in present-day Ukraine, where the musicologist Steffen Voss discovered the music of this opera, although the beginning of the first act and a fragment of the third had disappeared.

A concert version of the opera, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli, was performed at the Concert Hall De Doelen in Rotterdam on June 11, 2005, the first performance of the opera since the XVIII. The world premiere in modern times took place on September 21, 2005 in Düsseldorf, as part of the Altstadtherbst Kulturfestival, in a production by Uwe Schmitz-Gielsdorf, designed by Paolo Atzori with the orchestra Modo Antiquo conducted by sardelli. Deutsche Grammophon has made a recording with Il Complesso Barocco, conducted by Alan Curtis.

This opera is rarely performed; Operabase's statistics show the number 232 of the operas performed in 2005-2010, being the 70th in Italy and the first by Vivaldi, with 11 performances in the period.

Characters

Plot

Giusti's libretto uses the conquest of America as an argument for the first time in the history of opera, and comes to narrate the last hours of the Aztec emperor prisoner of the conquistador Hernán Cortés, called Fernando in a somewhat imaginative since following the custom of the time the opera ends with a happy ending.

Motezuma is hiding in his palace where his wife Mitrena and daughter Teutile are considering suicide. The emperor appears imprisoned by the Spanish, but the secret love between Teutile and Ramiro (Fernando's brother) prevents her from having the necessary courage to take her life. While various disputes take place between the protagonists, the Spanish win the final battle, although Fernando remains trapped in a tower besieged by Asprano. The Mexicas question the oracle, which answers that they must sacrifice a Spaniard and that Teutile will protect the kingdom. Ramiro saves Fernando thanks to a secret exit before Asprano burns the tower to the ground, then saves his beloved Teutile from him. After numerous intrigues, Fernando fixes the wedding of Ramiro and Teutile. Then, Motezuma and Mitrena understand that the oracle did not demand a human sacrifice, but the sacrament of marriage. The opera culminates with Motezuma and Fernando making peace and the latter returning laden with glory to his homeland, while Ramiro stays to govern those lands in the name of the crown.

Structure of the work

Overture:

Symphony

Allegro

Adagio Molto

Allegro

Act I:

Scene 1

Recitative, "It's vinto eterni dei!" (Monctezuma-Mitrena-Teutile)

Scene 2-3

Recitative accompagnato, "Non ha bisogno" (Monctezuma)

Aria, "Gl'oltraggi della sorte" (Montezuma)

Scene 4

Recitative, "Che legge e questa mai!" (Teutile-Fernando-Monctezuma-Ramiro)

Scene 5

Aria, "Dallo sdegno, che m'accende" (Fernando)

Scene 6

Recitative, "Mirarti appena ardisco idolo mio" (Ramiro-Teutile)

Aria, "Barbaro piu non sento" (Teutile)

Scene 7

Recitative, "In fausto di, quante sciagure"(Ramiro)

Aria, "Tace il labro, ed il mio affetto"(Ramiro)

Scene 8

Recitative accompagnato, "Numi, ancor pietosi volgiete" (Monctezuma)

Scene 9-13

Recitative, "Follow me. - Che ricerchi?"(All)

Scene 14

Recitative accompagnato, "Ah no... Ferma... t'arresta..." (Mitrena-Fernando)

Aria, "I cenni d'un sovrano" (Fernando)

Scene 15

Recitative accompagnato, "Confesso non discerno, ove son" (Montezuma)

Aria, "It is prescribed and in questo giorno" (Montezuma)

Scene 16

Recitative accompagnato, "Part l'afflitto sposo" (Mitrena)

Aria, "S'impugni the spada" (Mitrena)

Act II

Scene 1

Recitative, "I said I was hurt by the cure."

Aria, "Brilleran per noi piu belle"

Scene 4

Recitative, "Fernando il gran momento"

Recitative accompagnato, "Say your lagni?"

Scene 5

Recitative, "E war avrai"

Aria (Trío), "A battaglia"

Scene 7

Aria, "Sei troppo, troppo easye"

Scene 10

Recitative, "Fuggi Ramiro"

Aria, "In mezzo alla procella"

Scene 11-13

Recitative accompagnato, "Vane crudel, distruggi..."

Scene 13

Aria, "A guard, O Dio"

Scene 14

Recitative, "Vanne, che venticata:"

Aria, "The figlia, the spousy"

Act III

Scene 1

Recitative, "Esci german, pria che peggior destination"

Aria, "I'll be glad."

Scene 2

Recitative and Aria, "Or that except il german", "Anche in mezzo del contenti"

Scene 3

Aria, "Dal timor, spavento dallo:"

Scene 4

Recitative and Aria, "Ecco fideli miei, Nalla stagion ardente"

Scene 5

Funeral symphony

Aria, "L'agione dell'alma afflitta"

Scene 6

Recitative, "Figlia a volta ancora"

Scene 9

Recitative, "Senza cor, senza nume"

Scene 10

Recitative and Aria, "Stelle vinceste, Dov'e la figlia"

Scene 11

Choir and recital, "The great guerrier genius"

Last scene

Recitative, "Seguimi, e non fear"

Final, "Imeneo che sei d'amori"

In other arts

Opera plays a prominent role in the novel by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier Concierto barroco, in which the Master, a New Spanish man who, accompanied by his servant Filomeno, has traveled to Venice, gives the idea of this opera to Vivaldi. Later, the Master complains about the inadequate adaptation to historical reality.

Fonts

• Couple, Gabriel (2005). “The Motezuma of Vivaldi”, Pauta, vol. 23, no. 95, Mexico, DF; pp. 50-59.