Mosè in Egitto

Mosè in Egitto, 1818

The opera was loosely based on the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites, led by Moses, rendered agreeable to the opera stage by introducing a love theme, in which the Pharaoh's son Amenophis plans to prevent their departure, since he loves the Israelite Anaïs.

The 1818 opera opens as the plague of darkness is dispelled by Moses' prayer, and it ends with the spectacle of the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's host, which "elicited howls of derision"[3] at the clumsy machinery of its staging at the premiere, though the opera surmounted its technical failings and was a hit. Billed in 1818 as an azione tragico-sacra, the sacred drama with some features of the oratorio circumvented proscriptions of secular dramatic performances during Lent.

Rossini slightly revised the opera in 1819, when he introduced Moses' prayer-aria "Dal tuo stellato soglio", which became one of the most popular opera pieces of the day and which inspired a set of variations for violin and piano by Niccolò Paganini. Both survive in concert performance.

Moïse et Pharaon, 1827

The greatly enlarged work set to a French libretto was composed with so much additional music, including a substantial ballet, as to warrant a new title, Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge (Moses and Pharaoh, or The Crossing of the Red Sea) (pronounced [mɔiːz e faʁaɔ̃ u lə pasaːʒ də la mɛːʁ ʁuːʒ]), and was seen to be a separate and new opera alongside its Naples progenitor.

Disegno per copertina di libretto, drawing for Mosè in Egitto (undated).

French audiences had already seen Mosè in Egitto – given its Parisian premiere by the Théâtre-Italien at the Salle Le Peletier on 20 October 1822 – before Rossini revised it again, this time in French, for the Paris Opéra.

The French version, in four acts with a ballet, premiered on 26 March 1827 under the title Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le Passage de la Mer Rouge. The first libretto from Naples was translated and augmented by Luigi Balocchi[4] and Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy, who would later co-write the libretto for Rossini's final opera Guillaume Tell. As is noted on Expatica, "this second version proved such a runaway box-office success that it was performed no less than 100 times between its premiere in 1827 and 1838".[2]

20th century and beyond

The Rossini Opera Festival, in Rossini's home town of Pesaro, has presented the opera periodically since 1980, beginning with a 1983 production by Pier Luigi Pizzi and revived in 1985.[5] It did not re-appear until 2011 when it was seen in a production by Graham Vick.[6] There had, however, been concert performances of various versions of the opera in New York by the Collegiate Chorale and the Sacred Opera Society.

Mosè had "remained virtually unheard in Britain since a concert in 1822",[7] until a production was staged by Welsh National Opera in the 1964/5 season in Cardiff, Llandudno and London. London's Royal Opera House gave it in May/June 1994.[8]

Welsh National Opera staged it again in autumn 2014 in Cardiff and on tour. Opinions were mixed.[9][10]

In the US, Mosè in Egitto had not been heard in Chicago since 1865, but it was presented in that city by Chicago Opera Theater in 2010[11] and given by New York City Opera in April 2013.[12]

As Moise et Pharaon it was given at La Scala in 2003, and again as part of the 2009 Salzburg Festival under Muti.[2]

The score calls for: 2 flutes/2 piccolos, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, serpent, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, Banda Turca, harp, strings.

Stage band: piccolo, quartino, 4 clarinets, 2 horns, 4 trumpets, 2 trombones, serpent, bass drum

Place: Egypt

Time: Around 1230 B.C.[14]

Act 1

Act 1 set design of the original 1827 production

Darkness envelopes Egypt. It has been brought about by God in order to punish the Pharaoh and his people because he has failed to allow the Hebrews to leave the country for the Promised Land across the Red Sea. Moses is brought in and the Pharaoh declares that, when the sun shines again, he will release the captives. Cautioned by his brother Aaron not to believe the Egyptian leader, nevertheless Moses pleads to God and light returns.

However, because the Pharaoh's son Osiride is in love with the Hebrew girl Elcia and does not want to see her leave with her people, he persuades the High Priest, Mambre, to help him. The Priest does not believe in Moses' powers and he agrees to find a way to prevent the exodus by encouraging the Egyptians to revolt against allowing the Hebrews to depart. The Pharaoh then withdraws his promise and warns Moses that any Hebrew who tries to escape will be killed. Amaltea, Pharaoh's wife, has secretly converted and she tries to intervene, but to no avail. Moses then threatens further punishment and is set upon by Osiride's soldiers, intent upon killing him, but Pharaoh arrives in time to prevent it. Moses then prays for fire to rain down upon the country.

Notes

Sources

• Chouquet, Gustave (1889). "Valentino, Henri Justin Armand Joseph". A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 4. London: Macmillan. p. 214.
• Gossett, Philip; Brauner, Patricia (2001). "Mosè in Egitto". In Holden, Amanda (ed.). The New Penguin Opera Guide. New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-14-029312-4.
• Osborne, Charles (1994). The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340713.
• Ringhieri, Francisco (1760). L'Osiride. Tragedia del p.d. Francesco Ringhieri monaco ulivetano e lettore di teologia. Padua: Conzatti. Eight volumes of the tragedies of Ringhieri, an Olivetan monk (1721–1787), were also published in Venice 1788–1789.

• Osborne, Richard (1990), Rossini, Ithaca, New York: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-088-5 ISBN 1-55553-088-5
• Osborne, Richard (1998), "Mosè in Egitto" in Stanley Sadie, (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. One. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5
• Servadio, Gaia (2003), Rossini, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-7867-1195-7
• Toye, Francis (reissue 1987), Rossini: The Man and His Music, Dover Publications. ISBN 0486253961 ISBN 0-486-25396-1,

• Mosè in Egitto: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Mosè in Egitto at AllMusic
• Mosè in Egitto, Naxos
• Mose in egitto : quartetto a canone mi manca la voce per piano-forte musica del, digitized by BYU on archive.org