Sunday Opera 歌劇世界
Antonio Vivaldi was the most celebrated of all the Italian Baroque composers and certainly one of the most prolific. In addition to his more than 500 concertos and numerous instrumental, vocal and sacred works, he also composed 94 operas, of which about 20 survive.
Born and brought up in Venice, Vivaldi was trained in a seminary and was ordained a priest at the age of 25. He took up appointment as Music Master in the Hospital of Mercy, an orphanage where boys were trained for the trades and girls as singers and instrumental players. Under his tutelage, the choir and orchestra of the orphanage became widely acclaimed in Europe. For his fiery red hair, he was nicknamed ‘The Red Priest’.
Vivaldi achieved international fame with the publication of his first set of violin concertos in 1711 and the premiere of his first opera in 1713. In the 1720s, the composer began a close relationship with soprano Anna Giro, for whom he wrote all the principal female lead roles in his mature operas, including Griselda, which was premiered in Venice in May 1735.
The music of Griselda was set to a libretto by the great Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni, using an older text as the basis of his plot. The central character is a woman with admirable virtues of patience and loyalty. In a series of cruel tests, her royal husband tries her fidelity and endurance to prove her worthiness as queen.
Our recording features mezzo-soprano Marion Newman in the title role, bass Giles Tomkins as the King, soprano Carla Huhtanen as the Princess, and tenor Colin Ainsworth as a noble knight of Thessaly. The Opera in Concert Aradia Ensemble is conducted by Kevin Mallon.
