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Antonio Vivaldi
Centuries-Old Vivaldi Opera Found in Germany
May 24, 2008 11:00 AM
by
Liz Colville
A Vivaldi opera gathered dust in an archive in Germany for more than 270 years before being discovered by an orchestra director from Prague.
30-Second Summary
Vivaldi’s lost opera “Argippo” had not been performed in 278 years when it was uncovered by Ondrej Macek in 2006, writes the Prague Daily Monitor.
Before Macek’s discovery in an archive in the Bavaria region of Germany, all that was left of “Argippo” was a booklet that had accompanied the premier of the opera in Prague in 1730. It listed the opera’s performers and its libretto.
Macek, who is a harpsichordist and conducts a Baroque orchestra, Hofmusici, specializes in lesser-known Baroque composers, but is using “Argippo” to help music patrons “rediscover” Vivaldi, who is best known not for his 50 operas, but for the four violin concertos “The Four Seasons.”
Macek tracked down the troupe that originally performed “Argippo” centuries ago to Regensburg, Germany. It was in Regensburg’s local archives that Vivaldi’s sheet music turned up—but only two-thirds of it. Macek composed the rest.
Macek directed the world premiere of “Argippo” on May 3 at Prague Castle, and the opera is soon to be performed again in Venice, the birthplace of Vivaldi.
Before Macek’s discovery in an archive in the Bavaria region of Germany, all that was left of “Argippo” was a booklet that had accompanied the premier of the opera in Prague in 1730. It listed the opera’s performers and its libretto.
Macek, who is a harpsichordist and conducts a Baroque orchestra, Hofmusici, specializes in lesser-known Baroque composers, but is using “Argippo” to help music patrons “rediscover” Vivaldi, who is best known not for his 50 operas, but for the four violin concertos “The Four Seasons.”
Macek tracked down the troupe that originally performed “Argippo” centuries ago to Regensburg, Germany. It was in Regensburg’s local archives that Vivaldi’s sheet music turned up—but only two-thirds of it. Macek composed the rest.
Macek directed the world premiere of “Argippo” on May 3 at Prague Castle, and the opera is soon to be performed again in Venice, the birthplace of Vivaldi.
Headline Link: ‘A superstar returns’
Macek is not used to discovering works of “superstars” like Vivaldi, but his peers have called him an “expert” for being able to piece together an opera from the “hundreds of mixed scores” that make up a music archive. Macek uncovered only two-thirds of the opera, but composed his own music and borrowed arias from other Vivaldi operas to complete the music.
Source: Prague Daily Monitor
Background: Searching for Vivaldi in the ‘Anonymous’ section
Macek told the Associated Press that upon arrival at the Regensburg music archive, he “went for the section called ‘anonymous’ because I knew [the opera] surely was not listed under Vivaldi.” Matching an aria text to the libretto he had found in Prague, Macek knew he had found Vivaldi’s original work.
Source: Associated Press (via the International Herald Tribune)
Early this May, Macek talked with Radio Praha about his lucky search for the “Argippo” arias and the “rather complicated” plot of the opera. “It is a story of love and hate and it is full of intrigues and exchange of identities. A princess has two suitors and the one she denies tries to get rid of his rival by intriguing and plotting.” Macek said he knew “with one look” that he had found Vivaldi’s work, but employed the Vivaldi scholar Francesco Fanna for verification.
Source: Radio Praha
Key Players: Antonio Vivaldi, The Hofmusici Ensemble of Prague
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy in 1678. As a composer, Vivaldi became known for “intensely energized music that prefigures classical forms, romantic virtuosity, and 19th century program music,” writes Allen Krantz in his biography of Vivaldi on ClassicalArchives.com. Vivaldi also became known for his temper and “obsession with money.” “The Four Seasons,” a series of four violin concertos, is widely considered to be his greatest work.
Source: Antonio Vivaldi
Hofmusici
Macek, a musicologist, music director and harpsichordist, runs Hofmusici, a Baroque ensemble group based in Prague. The term “Hofmusici” is a German-Latin word that means “court musicians.” The group often chooses to perform lesser-known pieces that have only been recently discovered. Their repertoire includes Czech, Austrian, and Italian composers and focuses on “fully staged period-style performances of baroque opera.”
Source: Hofmusici Official Site
Related Topics: Vivaldi’s repertoire expands with 20th century discovery
Antonio Vivaldi’s enormous output was not fully known until the early 20th century, when a chance discovery uncovered many more works by the composer. BaroqueMusic.org tells the story of how a group of Salesian Fathers running a boarding school in Piedmont, Italy, uncovered hundreds of papers in 1926, leading to a “Vivaldi renaissance” and the creation of the Instituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi in 1945, which has collected and studied the composer’s work ever since.
Source: BaroqueMusic.org
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