Catone in Utica
{{Short description|Opera libretto by Metastasio}}
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File:Leonardo Vinci - Catone in Utica - titlepage of the libretto - Rome 1728.jpg's Catone in Utica (Rome 1728)]]
File:Pietro Torri - Catone in Utica - italian titlepage of the libretto - Munich 1736.jpg's Catone in Utica (Munich 1736)]]
Catone in Utica ({{IPA|it|kaˈtoːne in ˈuːtika}}; {{translation|Cato at Utica}}) is an opera libretto by Metastasio, that was originally written for Leonardo Vinci's 1727 opera. Following Vinci's success, Metastasio's text was used by numerous composers of the baroque and classical eras for their own operas, including Pietro Torri (1736), Antonio Vivaldi (1737), Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (1753) and J. C. Bach (1761).
History
Before Metastasio's Catone in Utica libretto, Cato the Younger had already been the subject of following operas:{{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}
- Catone il giovane, by Bartolomeo Monari, libretto by {{ill|Giovanni Battista Neri|scores|Category:Neri, Giovanni Battista}} (Bologna 1688){{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}Domenico Pietropaolo, Mary Ann Parker (2011). [https://books.google.com/books?id=H-HMDvZjk_UC The Baroque Libretto: Italian Operas and Oratorios in the Thomas Fisher Library at the University of Toronto.] University of Toronto Press. {{ISBN|978-1-4426-4163-1}}, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=H-HMDvZjk_UC&pg=PA109 109]
- Catone Uticensi, by Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (Venice 1701){{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}
- Cato, German opera by Reinhard Keiser, text after Matteo Noris (Hamburg 1715){{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}[http://operadata.stanford.edu/catalog/20101073 Cato, Die Liebe gegen das Vaterland, oder Der sterbende Cato] at Stanford University website.
Metastasio wrote Catone in Utica in Italian, as a libretto for an opera in three acts. He changed the name of Cornelia to Emilia and that of Juba to Arbace, as better suited for music. Leonardo Vinci set the libretto to music for the first time. Vinci's opera was premiered at the Teatro delle Dame, Rome, during the carnival of 1727.{{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}
Content
The subject of the libretto is the death of Cato the Younger, set in Utica. Following characters are represented:{{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}
- Catone (Cato the Younger)
- Cesare (Julius Caesar)
- Marzia, daughter of Catone, secretly in love with Cesare
- Arbace, Prince of Numidia, friend of Catone and lover of Marzia
- Emilia, widow of Pompeo (Pompey)
- Fulvio, legate of the Roman Senate and lover of Emilia.
Operas
Metastasio's libretto was also set by:{{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}
- Geminiano Giacomelli, Vienna, 1727
- Leonardo Leo, Venice, 1729 {{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000901023|title=Catone in Utica (i)|website=Grove Music Online|year=2002|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O901023|last1=Shearon|first1=Stephen|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0}}
- Johann Adolph Hasse, Turin, 1732
- George Frederick Handel, London, 1732, a pasticcio adapted mainly from Leo's 1729 setting, but transposing, editing or even entirely replacing its various arias to suit the skills of the singers he had at his disposal; some of the interpolated arias included pre-existing compositions by Porpora, Antonio Vivaldi, Hasse, and Leonardo Vinci. {{sfn|Champlin|1888–90|loc=I:[https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/284 284]}}{{Cite web|url=https://bachtrack.com/review-handel-catone-in-utica-opera-settecento-march-2015|title=Cut-and-shut Baroque: Handel's Catone in Utica|website=bachtrack.com}}
- Pietro Torri, Munich, 1736
- Antonio Vivaldi, Venice and Verona, 1737
- Egidio Duni, Italy, about 1738
- {{ill|Giovanni Verocai|it}}, Brunswick, 1743
- Carl Heinrich Graun, Berlin, 1744
- Niccolò Jommelli, Vienna, 1749
- Giovanni Battista Ferrandini, Munich, 1758
- Vincenzo Legrenzo Ciampi, Venice, 1750
- Florian Leopold Gassmann, Vienna, about 1760
- Johann Christian Bach, Naples, 1761{{IMSLP|work=Catone in Utica, W.G 2 (Bach, Johann Christian)|cname=Catone in Utica, W.G 2 (Bach, Johann Christian)}}{{cite Grove
|last1 = Warburton
|first1 = Ernest
|author-link = Ernest Warburton (musicologist)
|title = Catone in Utica ('Cato in Utica')(ii)
|doi = 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O004257
}}
- Gian Francesco de Majo, Naples, 1763
- Niccolò Piccinni, Naples, 1770
- {{ill|Bernardo Ottani|it}}, Naples, 1777
- {{ill|Gaetano Andreozzi|it}}, Milan, 1782
- Giovanni Paisiello, Naples, 1788
- Peter Winter, Venice, 1791.
References
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Sources
- {{cite book |last1=Champlin |first1=John Denison Jr |author-link1=John Denison Champlin Jr. |date=1888–90 |editor1-last=Apthorp |editor1-first=William Foster |editor1-link=William Foster Apthorp |title=Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons}}
- [https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi01cham/page/n8 Volume I]
- [https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi02cham/page/n9 Volume II]
- [https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofmusi03cham/page/n9 Volume III]
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