Prima la musica e poi le parole

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Prima la musica e poi le parole
Opera by Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri, 1802 engraving
LibrettistGiovanni Battista Casti
LanguageItalian
Premiere
7 February 1786 (1786-02-07)
Orangery of Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the words)[1] is an opera in one act by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Giovanni Battista Casti. The work was first performed on 7 February 1786 in Vienna, following a commission by the Emperor Joseph II.[2] The opera (more specifically, a divertimento teatrale) was first performed at one end of the orangery of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna by an Italian troupe; simultaneously, Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor was staged at the other end.

The title of the opera is the theme of Richard Strauss's opera Capriccio which debates the relative importance of music and drama in opera.

The autograph manuscript of the opera is preserved in the Austrian National Library.[3]

Roles[edit]

Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 7 February 1786
Eleonora, a prima donna soprano Nancy Storace
The composer bass Stefano Mandini
The poet bass Francesco Benucci
Tonina, a comic singer soprano Celeste Coltellini

Synopsis[edit]

Scene from a performance by Pittsburgh Festival Opera

Count Opizio contracts a new opera to be written to be ready in four days. The composer has already created the score, but the poet is suffering from writer's block and resorts to trying to adapt previous verses he has written to the existing music. The composer and poet are interrupted when Eleonora, the prima donna hired by the Count, enters and delivers a sample of her vocal artistry. Together with the Poet and the Maestro, she acts out a scene from Giuseppe Sarti's Giulio Sabino that devolves into a grotesque parody. Eleonora exits, and the librettist and the composer again wrestle with the problems of the libretto for the new opera in which a lengthy dispute between the two men ensues. Tonina (whose character is a parody of opera buffa) enters and demands a role in the new opera. The composer and the librettist quickly concoct a vocal number for her. A quarrel then erupts between Eleonora and Tonina over which of them should sing the opera's opening aria. The scene culminates in having both sing their arias simultaneously. The composer and the librettist are able to pacify the two ladies by agreeing to a juxtaposition of the seria and buffa styles, thereby putting a conciliatory end to their quarrel.

Recordings[edit]

Year Cast: Eleonora,
The composer,
The poet,
Tonina 		Conductor,
opera house and orchestra 		Label
1986 Maria Casula,
Graziano Polidori,
Giorgio Gatti,
Kate Gamberucci		 Domenico Sanfilippo,
Orchestra da Camera della Filarmonica della Boemia del nord		 CD: Bongiovanni
Cat: GB 2063/4-2[4]
1987 Roberta Alexander,
Robert Holl,
Thomas Hampson,
Julia Hamari
 Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra		 CD: Teldec
Cat: 8 43336[5]
2002 Melba Ramos,
Manfred Hemm,
Oliver Widmer,
Eva Mei
 Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Concentus Musicus Wien		 CD: Belvedere
Cat: 08035[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Also called Prima la musica, poi le parole
  2. ^ "Salieri: Prima la musica e poi le parole" by Jane Schatkin Hettrick at Opera Today, 19 February 2008
  3. ^ Autograph score, Austrian National Library
  4. ^ "Recording details (1986)". operaclass.com. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  5. ^ "Recording details (1987)". operaclass.com. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Recording details (2002)". Presto Classical.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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