MODERN WORLD PREMIERE OF A BAROQUE OPERA

under the auspice of Mr. Karel Schwarzenberg
and with the support of the Middle Europe Investments (MEI) investment group

Pietro Metastasio & Johann Adolf Hasse:

Tito Vespasiano, ovvero La Clemenza di Tito

(Titus Vespasianus, or Tito’s Clemency) Another modern world premiere of a Baroque opera will come to life at the III. annual Festival of Baroque Art at the Český Krumlov Baroque Castle Theatre. The decision to renew this particular Baroque opera was based on its relationship to the musical history of Bohemia. The first two performances of the opera following its premiere in Pesaro, Italy (1735) were not held in Italy or any other European metropolis, but actually in Moravia – at the castles in Vyškov (1736), and Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou (1737). A year latter, Hasse re-worked the opera for a performance in Dresden which was then followed by performances in nearly all of Europe’s cultural centres (Naples, Venice, Ferrara, Verona, Bologna, Madrid, London, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and more). The study of this work, representing one of the pinnacles of the genre of Italian Baroque Opera (dramma per musica), is also a demonstration of the exceptional cultural maturity of the Bohemian lands during the High Baroque. The study and performance of Hasse’s opera will take place on the basis of hitherto unpublished sources preserved in the libraries of Naples, Rome, Milan, London, and Vienna.

Johann Adolf Hasse was one of the most important and renowned composers of his time. He was born in 1699 in Bergedorf near Hamburg, left to Naples at a young age and before long became a leading figure in the Italian opera theatre scene. He lived and created in the main centers of cultural activity of the day (Naples, Venice, Dresden, and Vienna), was in contact with the most influential courts of Europe, the great theatres of Italy, and the leading church institutions. He was considered a peerless model throughout the entire 18th century, was respected by both Bach and Haydn, Voltaire called him the “hero of the century”, and young Mozart longed to “become immortal like him”. Following his death in Venice in 1783, however, Hasse’s work fell into oblivion and it wasn’t until recently that he has begun to return to the centre of interest of musicologists, performers, and listeners alike.

The libretto of the opera Tito Vespasiano ovvera La Clemenza di Tito is the work of Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782), the famous Imperial court poet of Charles VI and Maria Theresa. Hasse’s version is one of the first musical versions of this libretto, later made famous by W.A. Mozart with his corunation opera for Prague in 1791. Hasse’s version, of course, reached a much higher level of popularity during its time. Since its premiere in 1735, the following 40 years show evidence of more than 20 various studies of this work, a fact which makes it one of the most important operas of the 18th century.

Performers: Soloists Jana Dvořáková, Veronika Mráčková Fučíková, Jana Bínová Koucká, Václav Lemberk, Lenka Čermáková, Pavla Štěpničková, Baroque orchestra Hof-Musici, conducted from the harpsichord by Ondřej Macek, direction and Baroque choreography by Zuzana Vrbová

The Festival of Baroque Art in Český Krumlov was founded in 2008. The dramaturgy of this festival is based on scenic interpretation of Baroque opera in the Český Krumlov Castle Theatre. Opera is a characteristic genre of the Baroque, combining and connecting all basic period types of art of the period (music, poetry, fine arts, stage movement, and dance). The festival’s exclusivity is emphasized by the fact that the works studied and performed are those which have never before been published or performed in our time. Works of relevant interest are chosen based on intense research throughout the libraries and archives of Europe.

Festival organizers:
Krumlov Inspirations agency and the civic association Český Krumlov Festivals

Ticket sales:

Infocentrum, nám. Svornosti 2, Český Krumlov,
Tel.: 380 704 622-3, Fax: 380 704 619, E-mail: info@ckrumlov.cz

Castle information centre, Zámek 57 I. nádvoří, Český Krumlov Tel.: 380 725 110, E-mail: info@visitceskykrumlov.cz