Con altre note: nuove intonazioni viennesi dei drammi di Metastasio nel corso del XVIII secolo

Abstract

Metastasio’s libretti (both those written in Italy and those created in Vienna) were reused many times in the Habsburg capital during the 18th century. The presence of the author did not save them from alterations, including some German translations. After offering a provisional list of the operatic productions based on Metastasian creations, the essay focuses on three versions of “L’olimpiade” by Antonio Caldara (1733), Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1749) and Florian Leopold Gassmann (1764) respectively. The viennese tradition of the text appears rather conservative, as the original dramaturgical conception is never questioned. The morphological solutions adopted by the three authors are compared through the analysis of two significant examples, Aristea’s aria “Tu di saper procura” and the famous duet “Ne’ giorni tuoi felici”.