L'Olimpiade is an opera libretto in three acts by Metastasio, that was originally written for Antonio Caldara's 1733 opera. Following Caldara's success, more than 60 baroque and classical composers used the libretto for their own renditions. Metastasio’s plot, draws upon the narrative of '"The Trial of the Suitors" provided from book 6 of Herodotus's The Histories. The story, set in Ancient Greece at the time of the Olympic games, is about amorous rivalry and characters' taking places to gain the loved one. The story ends with two marriages being announced.
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History
Caldara's opera was commissioned for the celebration of Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's birthday in 1733 and Mestasio was hired to write the libretto. The opera was immensly popular and productions soon were amounted across Europe, making Caldara's opera one of the most frequently performed operas of the first half of the 18th century. Metastasio himself commented to Saverio Mattei that L’olimpiade had been "performed and repeated in all the theatres of Europe". Indeed, it ranks with Demofoonte and Didone abbandonata, dramas excelled in popularity only by Artaserse and Alessandro nell’Indie. The popularity of L’olimpiade may subsequently have prompted Metastasio’s Nitteti, a twin drama in several respects.
The popularity of Caldara's opera certainly gave Mestasio's libretto a wide audience. The composers who later chose to set his libretto to their own music would have certainly been familiar with his text through Caldara's opera. The first composer to reuse the libretto was Antonio Vivaldi in Venice in 1734. This was followed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's famous version in 1735. Although Pergolesi’s initial setting for Rome was not immediately successful, the number of subsequent stagings and extant manuscripts have particularly associated his name with this drama. In 1747 Baldassare Galuppi’s version premiered to resounding success in Milan and the opera is now regarded as his most successful opera seria. The libretto was also the source for one of Josef Mysliveček's finest dramatic works (1778, Naples) and a popular success for Antonio Sacchini in Padua 1763. Johann Nepomuk Poissl was the first German composer to set the work in 1815 and his version enjoyed occasional revivals during the nineteenth century.
Synopsis
Act I
Megacles arrives in Sicyon just in time to enter the Olympic Games under the name of Lycidas, a friend who once saved his life. Unknown to Megacles, Lycidas is in love with Aristaea, whose hand is to be offered to the winner of the games by her father, King Cleisthenes. Lycidas, once betrothed to Princess Argene of Crete, is unaware that Megacles and Aristaea already love each other, and he subsequently tells his friend of the prize. Aristaea and Megacles greet each other fondly, but Megacles now feels bound by his promise to compete as Lycidas. Meanwhile Argene arrives in Olympia disguised as a shepherdess, to win back Lycidas.
Act II
Megacles wins the games, confesses the truth to Aristaea and departs, broken-hearted. When Lycidas comes to claim her, Aristaea reproaches him, as does the disguised Argene, much to his dismay. Amyntas, tutor to Lycidas, reports that Megacles has drowned himself, and King Cleisthenes, apprised of the deception, banishes Lycidas.
Act III
Argene prevents the desperate Aristaea from suicide, Megacles is rescued by a fisherman, and Lycidas contemplates the assassination of the king. Aristaea pleads mercy for Lycidas and Argene offers herself in his place; as proof that she is a princess, she shows Cleisthenes a chain given her by Lycidas. He recognizes it as belonging to his son, abandoned in infancy to forestall the prophecy that he would kill his father. Lycidas, reinstated, accepts Argene, leaving his sister to Megacles.
List of notable settings
The following is a list of the most notable operas that utilized Metastasio's libretto in chronological order of first performance:
- Antonio Caldara: L'Olimpiade, first performance 28 August 1733, in honor of Elisabeth, wife of Emperor Charles VI
- Antonio Vivaldi L'Olimpiade, Venice, Teatro Sant'Angelo, 1734
- Giovanni Battista Pergolesi L'Olimpiade, 1735
- Leonardo Leo L'Olimpiade, 1737
- Domenico Alberti Olimpiade, 1739
- Tommaso Traetta L'Olimpiade, 1758
- Niccolò Jommelli L'Olimpiade, Stuttgart, 1761
- Vincenzo Manfredini L'Olimpiade, 1762, Moscow
- Josef Mysliveček, L'Olimpiade, 4 November 1778
- Domenico Cimarosa L'Olimpiade, Vicenza, 10 July 1784
- Giovanni Paisiello, L'Olimpiade, Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 20 January 1786
- Gaetano Donizetti Olimpiade, (1817, incomplete)
Others: Johann Adolf Hasse and Baldassare Galuppi
External links
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