Germanico in Germania

Germanico in Germania is an opera in three acts composed by Nicola Porpora to an Italian-language libretto by Nicola Coluzzi. It premiered in February 1732 at the Teatro Capranica in Rome with an all-male cast. The leading male roles were taken by two of the most prominent castrati singers of the 18th century—Domenico Annibali as Germanico and Caffarelli as his nemesis Arminio. The female roles were portrayed by castrati en travesti. The opera's story is a fictionalised account of the Roman general Germanicus and is set in Germania Inferior during 14 AD. Germanico in Germania was very popular in its day but fell into obscurity until it was revived in 2015 at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music.[1][2]

Some of the opera's bravura arias have been recorded by the singers Simone Kermes ("Empi, se mai disciolgo"), Max Emanuel Cencic ("Qual turbine che scende"), Flavio Ferri-Benedetti ("Qual turbine che scende") and Cecilia Bartoli ("Parto, ti lascio, o cara").[3][4][5][6]

References

  1. Sykes, Julian ( August 2015). "300 ans après, un opéra de Porpora renaît à Innsbruck". Le Temps. Retrieved 30 April 2016 (French).
  2. Robinson, Michael F. and Monson, Dale E (1992), "Porpora Nicola (Antonio)" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. 3, pp. 1065–1067.
  3. Wigmore, Richard (2012). "Dramma per Musica: Castrato arias excavated by Sony's star soprano Kermes". Gramophone Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  4. Ashley, Tim {2015). "Max Emanuel Cencic: Arie Napoletane". Gramophone Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  5. O'Connor, Patrick (2009). "Sacrificium: Cecilia Bartoli seeks to bring the lost voices of the castrati to life". Gramophone Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  6. Vickers, David (2016). "Arias for Domenico Annibali" Gramophone review of Ferri-Benedetti's album "Arias for Domenico Annibali". Retrieved 15 June 2016.

External links

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