Prima la musica e poi le parole

(First the music and then the words)Also called is an opera in one act by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Giovanni Battista Casti. The work was first performed on 7 February 1786 in Vienna, following a commission by the Emperor Joseph II."Salieri: Prima la musica e poi le parole" by Jane Schatkin Hettrick at Opera Today, 19 February 2008 The opera (more specifically, a ) was first performed at one end of the orangery of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna by an Italian troupe; on the same occasion, Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor was staged at the other end.

The title of the opera is the theme of Richard Strauss's opera Capriccio which debates the relative importance of music and drama in opera.

The autograph manuscript of the opera is preserved in the Austrian National Library.Autograph score, Austrian National Library

Roles

+RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 7 February 1786Eleonora, a prima donnasopranoNancy StoraceThe composerbassStefano MandiniThe poetbassFrancesco BenucciTonina, a comic singersopranoCeleste Coltellini

Synopsis

Count Opizio contracts a new opera to be written to be ready in four days. The composer has already created the score, but the poet is suffering from writer's block and resorts to trying to adapt previous verses he has written to the existing music. The composer and poet are interrupted when Eleonora, the prima donna hired by the Count, enters and delivers a sample of her vocal artistry. Together with the Poet and the Maestro, she acts out a scene from Giuseppe Sarti's Giulio Sabino that devolves into a grotesque parody. Eleonora exits, and the librettist and the composer again wrestle with the problems of the libretto for the new opera in which a lengthy dispute between the two men ensues. Tonina (whose character is a parody of opera buffa) enters and demands a role in the new opera. The composer and the librettist quickly concoct a vocal number for her. A quarrel then erupts between Eleonora and Tonina over which of them should sing the opera's opening aria. The scene culminates in having both sing their arias simultaneously. The composer and the librettist are able to pacify the two ladies by agreeing to a juxtaposition of the seria and buffa styles, thereby putting a conciliatory end to their quarrel.

Recordings YearCast: Eleonora,The composer,The poet,ToninaConductor,opera house and orchestraLabel1986 Maria Casula,Graziano Polidori,Giorgio Gatti,Kate GamberucciDomenico Sanfilippo,Orchestra da Camera della Filarmonica della Boemia del nordCD: BongiovanniCat: GB 2063/4-21987Roberta Alexander,Robert Holl,Thomas Hampson,Julia HamariNikolaus Harnoncourt,Royal Concertgebouw OrchestraCD: TeldecCat: 8 433362002Melba Ramos,Manfred Hemm,Oliver Widmer,Eva MeiNikolaus Harnoncourt,Concentus Musicus WienCD: BelvedereCat: 08035

References

Prima la musica e poi le parole

Bron en licentie