Artaserse (Hasse)

Artaserse premiered at the Teatro di San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice on 11 February 1730, just 6 days after the libretto's first setting by Leonardo Vinci premiered in Rome.

Hasse wrote three settings of this libretto. The original one dates from 1730, just before he became Kapellmeister in Dresden. A second setting was made for the Court Theatre in Dresden in 1740. Finally, he composed a third one in 1760, when he was nearing the end of his career as Kapellmeister in Dresden.

His style, as well as musical taste, underwent considerable change during those 30 odd years, so much so that not a lot of the 1760 version (Teatro di San Carlo, Naples) sounds like the music of the 1730 and the 1740 versions. For instance, at the end of the first act of the 1760 version, Mandane's accompanied recitative and aria in which she calls upon the ghost of her father, King Xerxes, has been removed. Although this differs from the previous versions, this change actually makes the drama closer to the original by Metastasio.[1]

To those three versions solely by Hasse, one must also add a myriad of pasticcios which use Hasse's setting as a basis, including for instance the notable Autumn 1734 London production put together by Nicola Porpora, starring Farinelli in arias written by Riccardo Broschi, but also, earlier that same year, a production for the Venice Carnival including additional music by Galuppi, starring both Farinelli and Caffarelli!

Hasse's Artaserse, in full or at least in part, was produced in:[1][2][3][4]

• 1730: Venice, Lucca, Milan
• 1731: Brno, Ferrara, Kroměříž
• 1733: Verona
• 1734: Venice and London
• 1735: London
• 1736: London
• 1737: Bergamo
• 1738: Bergamo and Graz
• 1739: Modena
• 1740: Ljubljana and Dresden
• 1745: Ferrara
• 1754: London
• 1760: Warsaw and Naples
• 1762: Naples
• 1765: Ferrara
• 1766: London
• 1772: London
• 1773: London
• 1774: London
• 1779: London
• 1785: London

Artaserse is based on the life of king Artaxerxes I of Persia, a ruler of the fifth century B.C., son of Xerxes I.

Seeing King Serse I's power in serious decline and ambitioning to mount the throne, Artabano, the commander of the royal guards and a powerful official in the Persian court, has murdered the sovereign and is now hoping to sacrifice the rest of the royal family to his design. And so, he accuses Dario, Serses I's eldest son and older brother of Artaserse, of the regicide and persuades the latter to avenge the crime. After Dario's demise, the only thing left wanting is now the death of Artaserse, which Artabano has plotted, but his plans are delayed by a succession of various incidents and in the meantime the treason is revealed.

Color key:

•   Artaserse
•   Mandane
•   Artabano
•   Arbace
•   Semira
•   Megabise
•   Duetto / coro
•   No aria in the scene
•   Scene does not exist

Color key:

•   Unknown
•   Soprano
•   Contralto
•   Tenor
•   Bass
•   Soprano castrato
•   Contralto castrato

• Hasse, J A: Artaserse (1730 Venice version). Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, conductor: Corrado Rovaris. Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani (tenor) as Artaserse, Maria Grazia Schiavo (soprano) as Mandane, Sonia Prina (contralto) as Artabano, Franco Fagioli (countertenor) as Arbace, Rosa Bove (mezzo-soprano) as Semira, Antonio Giovannini (countertenor) as Megabise. Recording date: July 2012, Festival della Valle d'Itria, Martina Franca. release: 2016, Label: Dynamic Cat. CDS7715/1–3 (CD), 37715 (DVD).
• Hasse: Artaserse (1740 Dresden version). Orchestra of the Antipodes, conductor: Erin Helyard. David Hansen (countertenor) as Arbace, Vivica Genaux (mezzo-soprano) as Mandane, Carlo Vistoli (countertenor) as Artabano, Andrew Goodwin (tenor) as Artaserse, Russell Harcourt (countertenor) as Megabise, Emily Edmonds (mezzo-soprano) as Semira. release: 2020, Label: Pinchgut Opera, Cat. PG011.

• Media related to Artaserse (Hasse) at Wikimedia Commons
• Artaserse (Hasse): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project