Armida abbandonata

Armida Abbandonata (Armida Abandoned) is an opera in three acts by the Italian composer Niccolò Jommelli. The libretto, by Francesco Saverio De Rogatis, is based on the epic poem Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso. The opera was first performed at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on 30 May 1770. The young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was in the audience. He described the work as "beautiful but too serious and old-fashioned for the theatre". Nevertheless, despite a lukewarm reception at its premiere, Armida abbandonata was widely performed throughout Italy in the following years.

Libretto title page, 1770

Roles
Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 30 May 1770[1]
Conductor: Nicola Fabio
Armida soprano Maria Anna Lucia De Amicis-Buonsollazzi
Rinaldo castrato (soprano) Giuseppe Aprile (Sciroletto)
Tancredi tenor Arcangelo Cortoni
Erminia soprano Apollonia Marchetti
Rambaldo castrato (contralto) Pietro Santi
Dano castrato (soprano) Gerlando Speciali
Ubaldo castrato (soprano) Tommaso Galeazzi

Synopsis
Act 1
The enchantress Armida has bewitched the Crusader knight Rinaldo. Tancredi fails to break the spell.
Act 2
Ubaldo and Dano manage to free Rinaldo from Armida's power. She is furious and destroys her own palace in her anger.
Act 3
Rinaldo manages to free the forest the Crusaders need to build siege engines to take Jerusalem from the magic spell that has been placed on it. He fights the illusions Armida has conjured up and cuts the myrtle at the heart of the forest which is the source of the magic.

Recordings

References
  1. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."Armida abbandonata, 30 May 1770". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).

Further reading
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