Singing the King’s Opera for the Empresses: Eighteenth-Century Opera Seria at the Imperial Russian Court Pubblico

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of Italian opera seria at the imperial Russian court from the introduction of the genre under Empress Anna through the reign of Catherine the Great. First presented in St. Petersburg in 1736, opera seria became an increasingly important part of court ceremonies under Anna’s successors, serving as a novel form of spectacle and a means of justifying the empresses’ authority. Beyond its elaborate presentation and its broad messages in support of absolute rule, opera seria provided the Russian empresses with an opportunity to demonstrate their fluency in Western European high art forms, a new means of communicating political aspirations, and an additional form of the stylized self-representation that characterized their reigns and their court cultures. Taking as examples three opere serie composed or performed under the patronage of the empresses in the period 1736-1796, I consider the reasons for the genre’s close association with ceremonies celebrating the empresses and its continued prominence at the Russian court throughout the eighteenth century, even as alternative musical and theatrical forms developed alongside it.

I discuss the ways in which the preexisting conventions of opera seria as they developed in Italy, including musical forms as well as recurring character types, plots, and libretti, were utilized by both Italian and Russian composers employed by the empresses. Selections from the operas La forza dell’amore e dell’odio (Araia), Ifigenia in Tauride (Galuppi) and Alcide (Bortniansky) are analyzed within the contexts of their original compositions or revisions and performances as parts of court functions.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1

Chapter I: Gods and Courageous Heroes: Ceremonial Figures on the Seria Stage ....................... 8

Chapter II: “Follow the Brave Woman!”: Shifting Perspectives on Succession ......................... 41

Chapter III: Educating Heroes, Princes, and Composers: Bortniansky’s Alcide ......................... 73

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 89

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 93

List of Musical Examples

Example 1a: Araia, aria for Abiazar, “Ecco alle mie catene,” mm. 1-11 .................................... 17

Example 1b: Araia, aria for Abiazar, “Ecco alle mie catene,” mm. 32-44a ................................ 18

Example 2: Araia, aria for Abiazar, “Ò sul soglio,” mm. 1-16 .............................................. 21-22

Example 3a: Galuppi, chorus, “Fra gl’inni e i cantici,” mm. 1-8 ................................................ 31

Example 3b: Galuppi, chorus, “Fra gl’inni e i cantici,” mm. 25-32 ............................................ 32

Example 4a: Galuppi, chorus, “Misero giovane,” mm. 1-8 ......................................................... 34

Example 4b: Galuppi, chorus, “Misero giovane,” mm. 9-13 ....................................................... 35

Example 5: Galuppi, chorus, “Temuta Pallade,” mm. 25-38 ....................................................... 38

Example 6: Araia, aria for Sofit, “Pensa che ti son Padre,” mm. 15-25 ...................................... 46

Example 7: Araia, aria for Sofit, “A questo seno ritorni amore,” mm. 11-23 ....................... 49-51

Example 8a: Galuppi, aria for Thoas, “Frena l’ingiuste lagrime,” mm. 25-35 ..................... 56-57

Example 8b: Galuppi, aria for Thoas, “Frena l’ingiuste lagrime,” mm. 69-71 .......................... 57

Example 9: Galuppi, aria for Iphigenia, “So che pietà de’ miseri,” mm. 19-40 .................... 61-62

Example 10: Galuppi, duet for Iphigenia and Dori, “Il mio destin non piangere,” mm. 49-67 ......65-67

Example 11: Galuppi, recitativo accompagnato for Iphigenia, “Ecco il punto fatal,” mm. 1-6 ... ..... 69

Example 12a: Bortniansky, recitativo accompagnato for Alcide, “In qual mar di dubbiezze,” mm. 15-21 .... 78-79

Example 12b: Bortniansky, recitativo accompagnato for Alcide, “In qual mar di dubbiezze,” mm. 26-32 ....... 79-80

Example 13: Bortniansky, aria for Alcide, “Dei clementi, amici Dei,” mm. 18-31a ............. 81-82

Example 14: Bortniansky, recitativo accompagnato for Alcide, “Grazie, O Numi del Ciel,” mm. 1-15 ..... 84-86

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Music
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Music
Parola chiave	opera opera seria eighteenth century catherine the great music russia
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Crist, Stephen, Emory University
Committee Members	Goodstein, Elizabeth, Emory University Bertrand, Lynn Wood, Emory University

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