Il palazzo incantato

Il Palazzo incantato (The Enchanted Palace) or Il Palagio d’Atlante, overo La Guerriera Amante (The Palace of Atlantes, or The Warrior Woman in Love), or also Lealtà con valore (Loyalty with Bravery) is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the Italian composer Luigi Rossi. The libretto, by Giulio Rospigliosi, the future Pope Clement IX, is based on Ariosto's Orlando furioso. It was first performed in Rome in a lavish production at the Teatro delle Quattro Fontane (Palazzo Barberini) on 22 February 1642. Rossi was criticised for giving too much music to his friend, the castrato Marc'Antonio Pasqualini, who played Bradamante, at the expense of the other roles. Some of the highly complicated stage machinery failed to work during the performance. Revived by Opera Dijon in a January 2021 online production.

"Allegory and subject of the action performed in music, entitled Lealtà con valore", title-page of the scenario booklet (not properly a libretto), Rome, 1642 (misprinted as 1662)[1]

Roles
Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type[2] Premiere cast, 22 February 1642[3]
Pittura/Marfisa soprano castrato (en travesti) Pietro Paolo Visconti
Poesia/Fioralba[4] (a woman) soprano castrato (en travesti) Michele Angelo Soldi
Musica/Olimpia soprano castrato (en travesti) Santi Casata
Magia/Prasildo soprano castrato Angelo Ferrotti
Atlante alto (countertenor[5]) Lorenzo Sances
Orlando tenor Odoardo Ceccarelli
Angelica soprano castrato (en travesti) Loreto Vittori
Giant/Mandricardo bass Bartolomeo Nicolini
Bradamante soprano castrato (en travesti) Marc'Antonio Pasqualini
Ferraù tenor Giacomo Brilli
Sacripante bass Antonio Sarci
Ruggiero tenor Francesco Bianchi
Astolfo/Iroldo tenor Francesco Stilli
Alceste alto (countertenor[6]) Mario Savioni
Gradasso bass Geronimo Navarra
Huntsman/False Ruggiero tenor Francesco Acquisti
Doralice soprano castrato (en travesti)[4] Giovanni Paolo Selli
Fiordiligi soprano castrato (en travesti)[4] Ludovico Camelano
Echo soprano castrato[4]
Finardo (a dwarf) soprano castrato[4] Zuradio

Synopsis

The magician Atlante captures Christian and pagan knights and ladies in his enchanted palace of illusions. Orlando, Ferraù and Sacripante enter the palace in search of Angelica. Bradamante seeks Ruggiero and, finding him with Angelica, vows to kill him in a fit of jealous rage. But Atlante calms things by reminding Angelica of her love for Medoro. Atlante feels threatened when Astolfo arrives as the knight is immune to his magic. Atlante convinces his captives that Astolfo is the enemy. Meanwhile, Ruggiero has broken the spell. Atlante responds by disguising himself as Ruggiero but when he is faced with a duel with the real Ruggiero he is forced to admit defeat. The magic palace vanishes and the knights and ladies are freed.

Notes
  1. Franchi, Saverio (1988). Drammaturgia romana. Repertorio bibliografico cronologico dei testi drammatici pubblicati a Roma e nel Lazio. Secolo XVII (in Italian). Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura. pp. 248–249.
  2. According to Marina Vaccarini.
  3. Prunières, Henry (January–March 1913). "Les représentations du Palazzo d'Atlante à Rome (1642). D'après des documents inédits". Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft. 2 (14): 221. JSTOR 929370.
  4. This role is not included in Vaccarini's list.
  5. According to Paolo Alberto Rismondo, Lorenzo Sances was a falsettist, not a castrato ("Sances, Giovanni Felice", in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 90, 2017).
  6. Mario Savioni was an uncastrated male alto.

Sources

Further reading
  • The Viking Opera Guide, ed. Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993)
  • Murata, Margaret, "Operas for the Papal Court, 1631–1668)", UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1981, p. 47 (ISBN 0835711226, 9780835711227)
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