Adriano in Siria (Hadrian in Syria) is a libretto by Italian poet Metastasio first performed, with music by Antonio Caldara, in Vienna in 1732, and turned into an opera by at least 60 other composers during the next century.[1][2] Metastasio based the background of the story on late Classical works by Cassius Dio (Book 19 of the Roman History) and Elio Sparziano (Vita Hadriani Caesaris).[3]
The aria Che fa il mio bene? also known as L'amante impaziente, sung by the character Emirena, was set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Opus 82: 4 Arietten und ein Duett.[3]
As a royalist or even imperialist opera, it was badly received by Republicans and revolutionaries. In 1792, Étienne Méhul had finished his version Adrien with a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman based on Metastasio; it was set to premier at the Paris Opera on 6 March 1792, but the Commune opposed it, as the opera was written by an Austrian (Anti-Austrian sentiments were running high at the time and France would declare war on Austria the next month), and the theme was imperialistic, which went against the ideals of the French Revolution. The premier was postponed for a week, and Hoffman defended his work in an open letter, but to no avail, as the work was banned on 12 March 1792.[7] It finally premiered in 1799, but was again shut down by the Directory after four performances.[8]
Aquilio: tribune, friend of Adriano and secretly in love with Sabina
Synopsisedit
Set in Antioch against the historic background of the time the future Roman Emperor Hadrian spent as Governor of Syria, it tells a fictional love story, where the virtue of Adriano is tested by his infatuation with Emirena, a Parthian princess, both before and after his marriage to Sabina. One of the subplots in the story is the attempt by Osroa to kill Adriano in a fire. Eventually, all ends well, Osroa is spared, Farnaspe marries Emirena, and Adriano returns to the love of his wife Sabina.[6]
^Pajares Alonso, Roberto L. (2010). Historia de la música en 6 bloques, Volume 2 (in Spanish). Visión Libros. p. 152. ISBN 9788499833439.
^Kennedy, Michael (2003). Words on Music: Essays in Honor of Andrew Porter. Pendragon. p. 182. ISBN 9781576470916.
^ abcdefghijklMetastasio, Pietro (3 January 2011). "Adriano in Siria". In Lavezzi, Gianfranca (ed.). Melodrammi e arie. Bur. ISBN 9788858614198.
^ abcdefFeldman, Martha (2010). Opera and Sovereignty: Transforming Myths in Eighteenth-Century Italy. University of Chicago. p. 258. ISBN 9780226044545.
^ abcdefHolmes, William (1994). Opera Observed: Views of a Florentine Impresario in the Early Eighteenth Century. University of Chicago. ISBN 9780226349718.
^ abcBagnoli, Giorgio (1993). The La Scala Encyclopedia of the Opera. Simon and Schuster. p. 10. ISBN 9780671870423.
^Darlow, Mark (2012). "Censorship at the Opéra: the controversy over Adrien". Staging the French Revolution: Cultural Politics and the Paris Opera, 1789–1794. Oxford University. ISBN 9780199773725.
^Abraham, Gerald (1982). The Age of Beethoven, 1790–1830. Oxford University. p. 71. ISBN 9780193163089.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaClément, Félix; Larousse, Pierre (1869). Dictionnaire lyrique: ou, Histoire des opéras contenant l'analyse et la nomenclature de tous les opéras et opéras-comiques représentés en France et à l'étranger depuis l'origine de ce genre d'ouvrages jusqu'à nos jours (in French). Administration du Grand dictionnaire universel. p. 8.
^Adriano in Siria. Carlo Buonarrigo. 1733. p. 7. metastasio adriano.
^ abSadie, Julie Anne, ed. (1998). Companion to Baroque Music. Oxford University Press. p. 49. ISBN 9780198167044.
^barbier, Patrick (1995). Farinelli (in French). Grasset. ISBN 9782246484097.
^Franchi, Saverio. Drammaturgia romana, vol. II, (1701-1750) (in Italian). Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. p. 287. ISBN 9788863723366.
^Rudhart, Franz Michael (1865). Geschichte der Oper am Hofe zu München, Volume 1 (in German). Datterer. p. 127.
^Pajares Alonso, Roberto L. (2010). Historia de la música en 6 bloques, Volume 2 (in Spanish). Visión Libros. p. 162. ISBN 9788499833439.
^"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^"SearchWorks". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
^ abcdefSelfridge-Field, Eleanor (2007). A New Chronology of Venetian Opera and Related Genres, 1660-1760. Stanford University. p. 511. ISBN 9780804744379.
^ abcdLütteken, Laurenz; Splitt, Gerhard, eds. (2002). Metastasio im Deutschland der Aufklärung (in German). Walter de Gruyter. p. 71. ISBN 9783110927146.
^"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^Metastasio (1750). Adriano in Syria. Opera. London: G. Woodfall.
^Metastasio, Pietro (1750). Adriano in Siria. Milan: Giuseppe Richino Malatesta.
^"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^Gluck, Christoph Willibald Ritter von (2007). Orfeo ed Euridice (in Italian). Pendragon. p. 37. ISBN 9788883425516.