Wikipedia

Dafne

For other uses, seeDafne (disambiguation).

Dafneis the earliest known work that, by modern standards, could be considered anopera.[1][2][3]ThelibrettobyOttavio Rinuccini,based on an earlier intermedio created in 1589, "Combattimento di Apollo col serpente Pitone," and set to music byLuca Marenzio,survives complete.[4]The opera is considered to be the first "modern music drama."[5]

Dafne
Operaby
DaphneChased by Apollo,byGiovanni Battista Tiepolo,1744
LibrettistOttavio Rinuccini
LanguageItalian
Based onDaphnemyth
Premiere
1598(1598)
Palazzo Corsi, Florence

The mostly lost music was completed byJacopo Peri,but at least two of the six surviving fragments are byJacopo Corsi.Dafnewas first performed duringCarnivalof 1598 (1597old style) at the Palazzo Corsi.[6]

History

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Most of Peri's music has been lost, despite its popularity and fame inEuropeat the time of its composition, but the 455-line verse libretto was published and survives. Florence's rulingMedici familywas sufficiently taken withDafneto allow Peri's next work,Euridice,to be performed as part ofMarie de' MediciandHenry IV's wedding celebrations in 1600.[7][8]

The opera was written for an elite circle ofhumanistsinFlorence,theFlorentine Camerata,between 1594 and 1597, with the support, and possibly the collaboration, of the composer and patronJacopo Corsi.[9][10]However, the first confirmed, non-public, performance of the work forDon Giovanni de' Mediciwas held in 1597 thanks toMarco da Gagliano.On Peri's own account, the opera seems to have been performed during three carnival celebrations (1595–1598), with the opera having been composed the year prior. The opera was later performed in 1599 at thePalazzo Pittiand at the Palazzo Guicciardini Corsi Salviati no later than January of the same year, but dates of performances are under scholastic debate.[10]

As an attempt to reviveGreek drama,[11]it was a long way off from what theancient Greekswould have recognized as dramatic art.[9]

Story

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The opera's story regardingApollofalling in love with the eponymousnymph,Daphne,takes its inspiration fromOvidand hisnarrative poetry,"Metamorphoses,"a work in wide usage within the operas composed within the Florentine, Mantuan, and Roman operatic spheres.[12]

According to Rinunccini's libretto, Apollo saves mankind by shootingPython,and soon pushes Cupid into an archery contest to see who's the better shot. As a way to get back at him, Cupid shoots him and makes him fall in love with Daphne. In order to get away from Apollo, Daphne turns into a laurel tree which Apollo then makes a crown of, this becoming the symbol of poetry, music, and freedom.[13]

Music

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Dafneis scored for a much smaller ensemble thanClaudio Monteverdi's slightly later operas, namely, aharpsichord,alute,aviol,anarchlute,and a triple flute.[11][further explanation needed]Drawing on a new development at the time, Peri establishedrecitatives,melodic speech set to music, as a central part of opera.[9]

Peri's musical language was a conglomeration of his contemporaries and the experimentation with the invocation of human speech in music through recitative and musical prosody. For Peri, he strove to replicate the flow and musicality of speech in his writing, while contemporariesEmilio de' CavalieriandGiulio Caccinisought different but similar compositional goals.[14]As a result, the music written for the opera may have been co-written with help from Caccini but contemporary research does not support this.[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Sonneck, O. G.(1913). ""Dafne", the First Opera. A Chronological Study ".Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft.15(1): 102–110.JSTOR929391.
  2. ^"How the Quest Was Won: OPERA (21/10/2005)".ABC.Archived fromthe originalon 19 May 2006.Retrieved7 August2007.
  3. ^"Travel Advisory; Opera's 400th Birthday Is Celebrated in Vienna".The New York Times.3 May 1998.Retrieved7 August2007.
  4. ^Sonneck, O. G. (1913).""Dafne", the First Opera. A Chronological Study ".Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft.15(1): 102–110.ISSN1612-0124.JSTOR929391.
  5. ^Hoxby, Blair (2005)."The Doleful Airs of Euripides: The Origins of Opera and the Spirit of Tragedy Reconsidered".Cambridge Opera Journal.17(3): 253–269.doi:10.1017/S0954586706002035.ISSN0954-5867.JSTOR3878297.
  6. ^Strainchamps, Edmond (2001)."Corsi, Jacopo".Oxford Music Online.doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.06571.Retrieved2023-07-27.
  7. ^"Music to the ears".news.com.au.27 November 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 4 June 2011.Retrieved7 August2007.
  8. ^"Opera Before Gluck".Music With Ease.Retrieved7 August2007.
  9. ^abcJacopo Peri –Dafnepage
  10. ^abPorter, William V. (1965). "Peri and Corsi'sDafne:Some New Discoveries and Observations ".Journal of the American Musicological Society.18(2): 170–196.doi:10.2307/830682.JSTOR830682.
  11. ^abOtten, Joseph (1911).Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.Retrieved7 August2007.
  12. ^Sternfeld, F. W. (1978)."The First Printed Opera Libretto".Music & Letters.59(2): 121–138.doi:10.1093/ml/59.2.121.ISSN0027-4224.JSTOR734132.
  13. ^Savage, Roger (1989)."Prologue: Daphne Transformed".Early Music.17(4): 485–493.doi:10.1093/earlyj/XVII.4.485.ISSN0306-1078.JSTOR3127017.
  14. ^Carlton, Richard A. (2000)."Florentine Humanism and the Birth of Opera: The Roots of Operatic" Conventions "".International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music.31(1): 67–78.doi:10.2307/3108425.ISSN0351-5796.JSTOR3108425.
  15. ^Gerard, Helen (1924)."THE FIRST OPERA: Presented at Florence in 1600 and again in 1923".The American Magazine of Art.15(9): 463–466.ISSN2151-254X.JSTOR23929390.
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