Oh del mio dolce ardor from the composer's opera, Paride ed Elena. [Wotquenne 39]. [Manuscript]

GLUCK, Christoph Willibald 1714-1787

Edité par Paris, 1820

Oblong folio (232 x 335 mm). Sewn. 24 pp. Notated in black ink on 10-stave rastrum-ruled paper. Contains the following arias for Paride: 1) "Oh del mio dolce ardor" 2) "Spiagge amate" 3) "Quegli occhi" [Piano part marked "Harpa"] The manuscript concludes with "Prence (oh Dio) per pietà," with a brief passage of recitative for Elena. With "de Paris 1826" in black ink to upper outer corner and handstamp of the Glasgow Society of Musicians to lower inner corner of first page with "108" in red ink above it and to final page of music. Paride ed Elena, to a libretto by Calzabigi and including a ballet by Noverre, was first performed in Vienna on 3 November 1770. It was the third of Gluck's operas that, in effect, restated the principles elucidated in his famous operatic manifesto that appeared in the preliminaries of the published full score of Alceste. Gluck again includes such a "letter" in Paride ed Elena, writing "I have had to do violence to my inspiration in order to emphasize the particular national characteristics of the Spartan and Phrygian peoples, contrasting the uncultivated roughness of the one with the soft effeminacy of the other. Since singing is no more than a form of declamation, I have thought it necessary to give Helen the native harshness of her race and not to fear the reproach of an occasional descent to harshness and vulgarity. He who is concerned with truthfulness must model himself to his subject and the noblest beauties of harmony and melody become serious faults if they are misplaced ." Translated and published in Cooper: Gluck, p. 143. "Paride ed Elena is the only example in all [Gluck's] works of his treatment of an erotic subject, a story of sensual passion in a definitively Mediterranean setting. In all his other operas the love interest remained a subordinate part of the drama, contributing to its development, certainly, but never the single, or even the main interest in any work but this." Ibid. p. 142. N° de réf. du vendeur 40250

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Oh del mio dolce ardor from the composer's ...
Éditeur : Paris
Date d'édition : 1820