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performed at the Josiah Priest school in London Maximilian II Emanuel takes Belgrade from the Turks. November: Louis XIV declares war on the Netherlands. The Nine Years’ War begins in Europe and America. 1689 Enrico Leone (BEMF 1989), Steffani’s first Hanover opera, with a libretto by Ortensio Mauro, premiered Lully’s Acis et Galatée performed in French in Hamburg August: Death of Innocent XI. 1690 Melchior d’Ardespin is appointed electoral councillor 1691 Ariadne (BEMF 2003), Conradi/Postel, premiered in Hamburg to great public acclaim Purcell’s King Arthur (BEMF 1995), with text by Dryden, performed at Dorset Garden in London 1695– Six Steffani operas, presented a few years earlier 1699 in Italian in Hanover, are performed in German translation in Hamburg t i m e l i n e 1703– Handel performs in the second violin section of 1706 the Gänsemarkt Orchestra under Keiser and Mattheson, and composes his first three operas for Hamburg. 1706 Handel leaves for Rome, carrying scores of several operas by Keiser and (probably) Steffani, from which he borrows arias over the course of his career. Within a few months of arriving in Rome, he acquires a volume of Steffani duets that he will use as compositional models and for more borrowings. 1708 Antiochus und Stratonica (BEMF 2013), Graupner/Feind, premiered in Hamburg 1710 Mattheson writes Boris Goudenow (BEMF 2005); it is not performed for 295 years. 1718 Handel’s Acis and Galatea (BEMF 2009), with text by Gay, Pope, and Hughes, is first performed 1726 February: Death of Maximilian II Emanuel 1728 February: Death of Agostino Steffani ■ —Paul O’Dette, Stephen Stubbs, and Gilbert Blin 147 2 0 1 1 b o s t o n e a r l y m u s i c f e s t i v a l NIOBE, REGINA DI TEBE
s y n o p s i s notes on our edition of Niobe, Regina di Tebe A total of nine original sources were used in making our performing edition of Niobe, two libretti and seven musical sources. Our primary source for the music was the autograph score in Vienna, with some additional details and corrections gleaned from manuscripts in Schwerin and Munich. While these three sources largely agree with one another, there are occasional pieces of information lacking in the autograph— mostly articulations, text underlay, or unclear pitches—that are more carefully notated in the other manuscripts, both of which seem to have been copied around the time of the first performance. For the 1688 performances, the original Italian libretto was published, as well as a separate German translation, which probably functioned as the program book for the Munich audience. These two documents were invaluable in sorting out the text and the stage directions for our edition.There are numerous differences between the text found in the published Italian libretto and that used in the musical sources, suggesting that Steffani was at liberty to change word order, or even individual words, where he felt he could create a clearer or more dramatic effect.The libretto also contains detailed stage directions as well as descriptions of the ballets, the music for which is lacking in the scores. The libretto indicates that the dance music was composed by Melchior d’Ardespin, the orchestra director at Maximilian Emanuel’s court in Munich. While d’Ardespin’s dances for Niobe are lost, those he provided for two operas performed in 1690 are extant, and from those we selected movements that seemed to best represent the ballets described in the Niobe libretto. Since d’Ardespin’s dances have a flavor distinct from those of notes on the libretto and our translation The translation of Luigi Orlandi’s libretto for Niobe, Regina di Tebe was prepared from the original 1688 Italian text, although we consulted the German source for clarification of some passages. We present the full libretto here, including the published introductory text. The cuts made for our performance are marked with gray shading. Indentations denote either single poetic lines divided between characters, or 148 m e t a m o r p h o s e s – c h a n g e a n d t r a n s f o r m a t i o n Steffani, we felt it was important to select dances by the composer of the original dance music. For the final“Dance of Celebrating Soldiers,” however, we have used the Chaconne from Steffani’s next opera, Enrico Leone of 1689. The German libretto also proved quite valuable in that it contains additional stage instructions not included in the other sources, as well as shedding light on how the Italian text was to be received by the public. There is no way of determining how closely the German translator was involved in the preparation of the original production, but from the details of the stage instructions, it appears that he must have witnessed rehearsals, if he was not actually a member of the production team. Thus the translator’s reading of the Italian text may offer an eyewitness view of the production. At the very least, it provided the most important source of information about the opera for the audience members who attended the first performances. After Steffani had composed the score, it was apparently decided that the opera was too long, and numerous cuts were made, all clearly indicated in the autograph score, and also in both the Italian and German libretti. In particular, Act I was initially longer than the other two acts combined, and the bulk of the cuts were made there, some of them involving the elimination of entire scenes.We used those original cuts as the basis of our own pruning, to shorten the opera to a size we could manage within the schedule of this year’s festival. ■ —Paul O’Dette a multi-line aria. The language of this libretto is enriched by frequent references and allusions to classical mythology, ancient geography, and literary works by Ovid, Homer,Virgil, Tasso, and the like. These terms are marked with a “†” and are explained in a Glossary of Terms on pages 208–209. ■ —Ellen Hargis
Page 1 and 2: f e s t i va l o p e ra extends hea
Page 3 and 4: f e s t i va l o p e ra Niobe, Regi
Page 5 and 6: f e s t i va l o p e ra Boston Earl
Page 7 and 8: f e s t i va l o p e ra Steffani, O
Page 9 and 10: f e s t i va l o p e ra Seven Keys
Page 11 and 12: f e s t i va l o p e ra his librett
Page 13 and 14: f e s t i va l o p e ra his offer t
Page 15 and 16: f e s t i va l o p e ra event of th
Page 17 and 18: f e s t i va l o p e ra Niobe, A Ch
Page 19: t i m e l i n e Historical Timeline
Page 23 and 24: s y n o p s i s The City of Thebes
Page 25 and 26: Ecco per ciò dalla famosa Reggia d
Page 27 and 28: Che bramando Anfione viver al ripos
Page 29 and 30: ATTO I. Scena I. Regale con Trono i
Page 31 and 32: Et in ozio trahesti, Nelle romite P
Page 33 and 34: Niobe E’ Felice il tuo Cor, ne sa
Page 35 and 36: Tiberino Suon di lontana Caccia Fà
Page 37 and 38: Manto Ahi quanto io più lo miro, e
Page 39 and 40: Creonte È Donna, ò Dea? Ahi, ch
Page 41 and 42: Scena XIV. Niobe, & Anone. Niobe An
Page 43 and 44: D’Encelado il gran Monte, Che ogn
Page 45 and 46: Scena XVIII. Nerea. Forsennato vane
Page 47 and 48: Scena XXI. Anone seguito da numeros
Page 49 and 50: Che con voglie arroganti Usurpar pr
Page 51 and 52: Manto Oh Tiranna. Tiberino Oh spiet
Page 53 and 54: Manto Si. Tiberino E gli sguardi al
Page 55 and 56: ATTO II. Scena I. Anteatro con gran
Page 57 and 58: Niobe Che si tarda Clearte? Meco al
Page 59 and 60: Niobe E tù più Rè non sei. Anone
Page 61 and 62: E dal sidereo Trono Atterri il vost
Page 63 and 64: Manto Quà mie de Compagne, ove rid
Page 65 and 66: Marte dall’alte Sfere Di trar heb
Page 67 and 68: Son solo gli affetti Del picciolo A
Page 69 and 70: Per far miei di felici, Corran le F
Page 71 and 72:
Manto Hò troppo parlato, Ti basti
Page 73 and 74:
Scena II. Poliferno, e li Sudetti.
Page 75 and 76:
Anone Quanto à me fè palese Tires
Page 77 and 78:
D’una stolta eseguite? Così ante
Page 79 and 80:
Ad un subitaneo Terremoto si vedono
Page 81 and 82:
Scena XIII. À lieto suono di Tromb
Page 83 and 84:
Glossary Niobe, Regina di Tebe is d
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