Romolo ed Ersilia (Hasse)

Romolo ed Ersilia is a three-act opera composed by Johann Adolph Hasse to an Italian-language libretto by Pietro Metastasio. The opera was commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa to celebrate the marriage of her son Leopold to Maria Luisa of Spain. The opera was first performed on 6 August 1765, the day after their wedding, in the court theatre of the Imperial Palace in Innsbruck.[1][2] The opera received its first performance in modern times in 2011 during the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music.[3]

Romolo ed Ersilia
Opera by Johann Adolph Hasse
Illustration of the opera's final scene from a 1781 copy of the libretto
LibrettistPietro Metastasio
Premiere
6 August 1765 (1765-08-06)
Imperial Palace, Innsbruck

The opera is loosely based on The Rape of the Sabine Women, an episode in the legendary history of Rome, traditionally dated to 750 BC. The opera's main protagonists are Romolo (Romulus, the founder and ruler of Rome) and Ersilia (Hersilia, who became the wife of Romulus).

The same libretto was set eight years later by Josef Mysliveček and again titled Romolo ed Ersilia. The libretto also formed the basis for a 1780 ballet d'action choreographed by Charles Le Picq to music by Martín y Soler and entitled Il ratto delle Sabine.[4]

Roles
Role Voice type[lower-alpha 1] Premiere cast, 6 August 1765
Romolo (Romulus), the king and founder of Rome castrato Gaetano Guadagni
Ersilia, Hersilia, a Sabine princess bethrothed to Romolo soprano Anna de Amicis
Curzio, Sabine king and Ersilia's father tenor Domenico Panzacchi
Acronte, a Sabine prince and rejected suitor of Ersilia castrato Gaspare Pacchierotti
Valeria, a Roman noblewoman betrothed to Acronte but abandoned by him soprano Teresa Dupré née Sartori
Ostilio, Romolo's friend, in love with Valeria castrato Luca Fabbris
The people of Rome

Notes
  1. In the modern revival the male castrato roles were sung by women, mezzo-sopranos for Romolo and Acronte and a soprano for Ostilio.[3]

References
  1. Howard, Patricia (2014). The Modern Castrato: Gaetano Guadagni and the Coming of a New Operatic Age. p. 108. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199365210
  2. Lavezzi, Gianfranca (ed.) (2010). Pietro Metastasio: Melodrammi e arie, p. 55 (digital edition). BUR/Rizzoli. ISBN 8858614186
  3. Innsbruck Festival of Early Music Opera Archives. Romolo ed Ersilia
  4. DelDonna, Anthony R. (2016). Opera, Theatrical Culture and Society in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples, pp. 240–241. Routledge. ISBN 1317085396
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