L’opera seria - Schedule, Program & Tickets
L’opera seria
Commedia per musica in three acts
Libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
The composer Sospiro and the poet Delirio proudly want to perform their new opera. But now the problems begin: The impresario Fallito wants cuts, the prima donna Stonatrilla wants more attention, another singer wants a new aria, and the two castrato singers don't even show up. The singers' mothers interfere in everything. Nevertheless, the performance of the opera Oranzebe finally takes place – and ends in delightful chaos. With L'opera seria, the composer Florian Leopold Gassmann and his librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi have written the most over-the-top opera parody of the 18th century. By satirizing the shortcomings of serious opera with its self-important singers, senseless virtuosity, pompous scenery, and hollow pathos, L'opera seria celebrates the wit and characterization of opera buffa. It was not without reason that the librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi was the driving force behind Christoph Willibald Gluck's operatic reform, while Florian Leopold Gassmann, as court Kapellmeister under Joseph II, formed the link between Gluck and the Viennese Classical generation. Director Laurent Pelly, whose productions masterfully combine satirical sharpness and comedy, brings L'opera seria back to the city of its premiere. Christophe Rousset, a regular guest at the MusikTheater an der Wien as a specialist in 18th-century music, conducts his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques.
In Italian with German and English surtitles.
Introduction to the work 30 minutes before the start of each performance.
Co-production with the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
Subject to change.
Libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
The composer Sospiro and the poet Delirio proudly want to perform their new opera. But now the problems begin: The impresario Fallito wants cuts, the prima donna Stonatrilla wants more attention, another singer wants a new aria, and the two castrato singers don't even show up. The singers' mothers interfere in everything. Nevertheless, the performance of the opera Oranzebe finally takes place – and ends in delightful chaos. With L'opera seria, the composer Florian Leopold Gassmann and his librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi have written the most over-the-top opera parody of the 18th century. By satirizing the shortcomings of serious opera with its self-important singers, senseless virtuosity, pompous scenery, and hollow pathos, L'opera seria celebrates the wit and characterization of opera buffa. It was not without reason that the librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi was the driving force behind Christoph Willibald Gluck's operatic reform, while Florian Leopold Gassmann, as court Kapellmeister under Joseph II, formed the link between Gluck and the Viennese Classical generation. Director Laurent Pelly, whose productions masterfully combine satirical sharpness and comedy, brings L'opera seria back to the city of its premiere. Christophe Rousset, a regular guest at the MusikTheater an der Wien as a specialist in 18th-century music, conducts his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques.
In Italian with German and English surtitles.
Introduction to the work 30 minutes before the start of each performance.
Co-production with the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
Subject to change.