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A taste for French dances is something that Steffani acquired in
Paris and which distinguishes him from his compatriots. The
minuet, gavotte, bourrée, and sarabande underpin many of his
arias and ensembles, and the instruments that alternate with
the vocal lines are occasionally reduced to two oboes and
bassoon—a combination favored by Lully. Some of these
movements were danced as well as sung. The acts of Steffani’s
operas normally end with a ballet, for which the music often
has been lost, and his operas invariably begin with a French
overture, even if it is called a “sinfonia.” His writing for strings
and woodwinds in dance-based movements and overtures was
heavily influenced by what he heard in Paris, and his fusion of
French and Italian styles, combined with skillful counterpoint,
helped forge the musical language of the late Baroque.
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Premiered in the Salvatortheater at Munich on January 5, 1688,
Niobe, Regina di Tebe was Steffani’s first opera based on Greek
myth.The libretto was by Luigi Orlandi, a court secretary who
had supplied him with the text of 1687’s Alarico il Baltha.The
most important source for Niobe was Book VI of Ovid’s
Metamorphoses.The moral of the opera is“pride comes before
a fall,”but the work is concerned also with the power of music.
The influence of sorcery and the supernatural is reflected in
Orlandi’s request for numerous sets and spectacular stage
machinery. Ballets at the ends of the acts—and in Act II, Scene
IV, when Anfione (Amphion) is made a god—were devised by
the court choreographer and dancing master, François Rodier.
The score of the opera is exceedingly rich. Its musical language
reaches heights of intensity in melody and harmony, and its
orchestration is exceptionally finely conceived and precisely
notated. Niobe is also the first Steffani opera with fewer than
sixty arias and five ostinato basses. Many of the arias are
accompanied by instruments in addition to continuo.Ten extra
musicians were engaged for the production: a document in the
Bavarian state archives records their names and the amounts
they were paid for seven rehearsals and four performances.
That Niobe is an exceptional score is announced by trumpets
and drums in the overture, but the work’s most extraordinary
features are associated with the role of Anfione, a vehicle for the
castrato Clementin Hader and a tribute to Max Emanuel (a
musician as well as a soldier). Eight ofAnfione’s ten arias call for
additional instruments, and in five of them—an unusually high
number—the instruments play throughout. The scoring is
particularly rich in the Palace of Harmony (Act I, Scene XIII),
where the king seeks comfort from worldly affairs. Here he is
accompanied on stage by “viole” and “bassi,” and in the
orchestra by recorders and strings (two players per part);
plucked instruments (harpsichords and theorboes) are silent.
The recitative is introduced by the on-stage instruments; these
being hidden (“in scena nascosti”), the music sounds ethereal
and soothing.The orchestra enters when Anfione starts singing,
and breaks into repeated chords as he tries to throw off his cares,
but the “viole” continue to provide a sustained background,
f e s t i va l o p e ra
suggesting the impassivity of the universe. The aria “Sfere
amiche, hor date al Labro,” invokes the music of the spheres.
The circling of the planets is captured in a six-quarter-note
ostinato—the aria is in 6/4—that begins on the subdominant
note of the scale and is drawn down as if by gravity.These falling
phrases in the bass are counterbalanced by rising motion above;
furthermore, when the violins move, the “viole” are generally
stationary, and vice versa. In this way the effect of rotation
created by scales in contrary motion is reinforced by alternation
between stage and pit. Finally, to lead smoothly into the da capo
repeat, the second section ends (atypically) in the subdominant
key, so that tonality, too, comes full circle.
Most of Anfione’s arias are masterly and could be discussed in
similar detail. In“Come Padre, e come dio”(Act I, Scene XXI),
he persuades Jove to build walls around Thebes; in “Dal mio
Petto o pianti, uscite” (Act II, Scene V), he trembles to staccato
chords and weeps to chromatic scales; in “Trà Bellici carmi”
(Act II, Scene XII), his desire for vengeance is conveyed by
furious coloratura. He begins his last aria,“Spira già nel proprio
sangue”(Act III, Scene XII), after stabbing himself in the chest,
and leaves it incomplete at his death. As he expires, Niobe
surveys in horror the demise of her offspring and husband, and
voices a recitative.As she feels herself turning to stone, she sings
a short continuo aria, “Funeste Imagini,” terrifying in its
intensity, which also is left incomplete. Notwithstanding her
love songs to Anfione and Creonte, and her warlike“In mezzo
al Armi”(Act III, Scene VIII), her final utterance is arguably the
climax of her role. Creonte’s aria in the following scena ultima
balances the overture in its use of trumpets and drums.
Carefully balanced,also,are the roles of the young loversTiberino
and Manto, who have six arias each. All but one of his are in
common time, while most of hers are in triple. Her father Tiresia
has two arias in 4/4 and major keys,and two in 3/4 and E minor.
Poliferno’s exceptional status as a prince versed in magic explains
why all four of his arias are supported by instruments, while the
highlight of Clearte’s role is probably the accompanied recitative
that he sings as Niobe’s children are slain (Act III, Scene X).
The nurse,Nerea,stands outside the action,serving as confidante,
observer, and mediator between stage and auditorium. Her
comic role—a staple of earlier opera and commedia dell’arte—
is reflected in her arias, which are in lively tempos and major
keys, with syllabic word-setting, syncopation, simple phrase
structure, and much repetition. Most of the texts are wry
observations on relations between men and women and their
light-headed expectations of love. Two of her arias are linked:
“Che agli assalti degli amanti” (Act I, Scene XVIII) points out
that women cannot help falling for men, while “Che alla fè di
Donne amanti” (Act III, Scene IX) states the opposite. To
highlight this parallel,the music of the first aria is repeated for the
second. The latter is a substitute for an earlier movement, still
present in the score,and an example of the inspiration that pulses
throughout Steffani’s greatest Munich opera. ■
© Colin Timms
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NIOBE, REGINA DI TEBE