Il Pompeo

Summary

Il Pompeo is a dramma per musica in three acts by composer Alessandro Scarlatti. Written in 1682 when Scarlatti was 22 years old, it was his fourth opera and first dramatic work on a serious and grand subject. The opera uses an Italian language libretto by Nicolò Minato which had previously been used by Francesco Cavalli for his 1666 opera Pompeo Magno. The work premiered at the Teatro di Palazzo Colonna in Rome on 25 January 1683.[1]

Il Pompeo
Opera by Alessandro Scarlatti
The composer as a young man
LibrettistNicolò Minato
LanguageItalian
Premiere
25 January 1683 (1683-01-25)
Teatro di Palazzo Colonna, Rome

Roles edit

Role[2] Voice type[2] Premiere cast
25 January 1683
Pompeo tenor
Giulio Cesare bass
Giulia, daughter of Giulio Cesare contralto castrato travesti
Scipione Servilio, loved by Giulia soprano castrato
Mitridate tenor
Issicratea, Mitridate's wife soprano castrato travesti
Sesto, son of Pompeo alto castrato
Claudio, son of Giulio Cesare soprano castrato
Harpalia, Issicratea's slave tenor travesti
Farnace, son of Mitridate soprano castrato

References edit

  1. ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Pompeo, 25 January 1683". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  2. ^ a b Boyd, Malcolm (1997) [1992]. Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol.3. London: Macmillan Reference Limited. p. 1055. ISBN 1-56159-228-5.