While Rasi did sing in Peri's "Orfeo ed Euridice", Peri also, and on the first performance, which counts.
"Orfeo ed Euridice" is an opera by Jacopo Peri, with additional music by Giulio Caccini.
First performed in Florence on October 6, 1600, it has a libretto written by Ottavio Rinuccini, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses.
"Orfeo ed Euridice" was created for the marriage of Henry IV and Maria de Medici.
This is considered by some to be the second work of modern opera, and the first such musical drama to survive to the present day. (The first, Dafne, was written by the same authors in 1597.)
The first performance was in the Palazzo Pitti.
Peri himself sang Orfeo, and many of the other parts were played by members of Caccini's entourage, including his daughter Francesca Caccini.
Caccini actually wrote an entire opera of Euridice to the same libretto, and managed to have it published before Peri's (1599).
Caccini's, however, was not performed until 1602, and was never repeated, presumably because of the success of Peri's version.
Peri's "Orfeo ed Euridice" contains one of the first examples of recitative.
Peri carefully paces the voice and accompaniment in order to highlight the tension and release in the text.
The rhythms and melodic inflections in the vocal line imitate speech.
In addition, impassioned exclamations are set with unprepared dissonances and unexpected movements in the bass.
The tenor roles in the opera are various:
Orfeo tenor
Aminta, a shepherd tenor
Tirsi, a shepherd tenor
Radamanto tenor
Shepherds, shades and deities of hell
See also
List of Orphean operas
See the articles on Orpheus and Eurydice for many of the other stage and screen reinterpretations of the legend.
William V. Porter. "Jacopo Peri", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed February 7, 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
Howard Mayer Brown. "Euridice (i)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed February 7, 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
[edit] External links
Libretto at Karadar.com
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Francesco Rasi, the first "Orfeo"
Francesco Rasi (Arezzo, 14 May 1574 – 30 November 1621) was an Italian tenor. He studied at the University of Pisa and in 1594 he was studying with Giulio Caccini.
He may have been in Carlo Gesualdo's retinue when he went to Ferrara for his wedding in 1594.
In 1598 he joined the court of Duke Vincent I in Mantua, and probably served the Gonzaga family the rest of his life, with whom he travelled all over Italy and as far afield as Poland.
He sang in the first performances of Jacopo Peri's "Orfeo ed Euridice" -- and Caccini's Il rapimento di Cefalo in 1600.
In 1607 he created the title role in Claudio Monteverdi's "Orfeo", and in 1608 sang in the first performances of Marco da Gagliano's Dafne.
In 1610 in Tuscany Rasi and his accomplices were sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for the murder of is stepmother's servant and the attempted murder of his stepmother, however because of the protection of the Gonzaga family he escaped, and his sentence was eventually annulled with the agreement that he never return to Arezzo, his birthplace.
He wrote an opera, Cibele, ed Ati, which seems not to have been performed and whose music does not survive, and another libretto, Elvidia rapita. He published poetry, including in the anthology La cetra di sette corde, and a good deal of monody which survives in the anthologies Vaghezze di musica (1608) and Madrigali (1610). Almost all of these are written for tenor voice, suggesting that they were written to display Rasi's own skill as a singer, and they follow in the style of Caccini's compositions.
Rasi was a well respected singer, whose skill in ornamentation and diminution, beautiful voice, and ability to sing with grace and feeling, led to him being involved in the first performances of many of the first operas.
William V. Porter. "Francesco Rasi", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed July 10 2007), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
Susan Parisi. "Francesco Rasi (opera)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed July 10 2007), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
He may have been in Carlo Gesualdo's retinue when he went to Ferrara for his wedding in 1594.
In 1598 he joined the court of Duke Vincent I in Mantua, and probably served the Gonzaga family the rest of his life, with whom he travelled all over Italy and as far afield as Poland.
He sang in the first performances of Jacopo Peri's "Orfeo ed Euridice" -- and Caccini's Il rapimento di Cefalo in 1600.
In 1607 he created the title role in Claudio Monteverdi's "Orfeo", and in 1608 sang in the first performances of Marco da Gagliano's Dafne.
In 1610 in Tuscany Rasi and his accomplices were sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for the murder of is stepmother's servant and the attempted murder of his stepmother, however because of the protection of the Gonzaga family he escaped, and his sentence was eventually annulled with the agreement that he never return to Arezzo, his birthplace.
He wrote an opera, Cibele, ed Ati, which seems not to have been performed and whose music does not survive, and another libretto, Elvidia rapita. He published poetry, including in the anthology La cetra di sette corde, and a good deal of monody which survives in the anthologies Vaghezze di musica (1608) and Madrigali (1610). Almost all of these are written for tenor voice, suggesting that they were written to display Rasi's own skill as a singer, and they follow in the style of Caccini's compositions.
Rasi was a well respected singer, whose skill in ornamentation and diminution, beautiful voice, and ability to sing with grace and feeling, led to him being involved in the first performances of many of the first operas.
William V. Porter. "Francesco Rasi", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed July 10 2007), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
Susan Parisi. "Francesco Rasi (opera)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed July 10 2007), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)