| Christoph Willibald Gluck |
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Operas
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Ezio is an opera set by many composers including first by Nicola Porpora (20 November 1728)[1] and Pietro Auletta (26 December 1728), and notably Hasse's Ezio (Naples, 1730; Dresden, 1755), Handel's Ezio (London, 1732) and Latilla's Ezio (Naples, 1758). Gluck set Metastasio's libretto first for Prague (1750), then revised it for Vienna (1763). Unlike Mysliveček's first Ezio (Naples, 1775) and Mysliveček's second Ezio (Munich, 1777), Gluck's two versions contain around half the same music.[2]
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The action takes place in 500AD as the Christian general Aetius has just defeated Attila the Hun.
After many plot turns, at the end Ezio saves the emperor from the plot of Massimo, who is arrested but spared. In gratitude Valentiniano allows Fulvia and Ezio to marry.
The original Ezio, a full-blown opera seria with no trace of the Gluck "reform" to come, was premiered at impresario Giovanni Battista Locatelli's theatre on v Kotcích Street (German "Kotzentheater" Czech "Divadlo v Kotcích," 1739-1783) and ran for two seasons.
Gluck, as Handel and Vivaldi before him and all composers of his time, naturally recycled the "numbers" (arias and choruses) from older operas, rewriting the connecting recitative as necessary. In 1763 he reused nearly half of the 25 musical numbers from the Prague Ezio of 13 years earlier, avoiding material like "Se povero il ruscello" from the Prague Ezio which he had already used at the Vienna Burgtheater the previous year in the Vienna Orfeo as "Che puro ciel," and Gluck filled up the rest with 7 arias from Il trionfo di Clelia, which was also unknown to Viennese audiences. Recycling the arias from the Prague Ezio and Il trionfo di Clelia still required Gluck to transpose and adjust for the new singers, and reorchestrate for a bigger orchestra. Gluck also trimmed the opera by shortening the ouverture and cutting repeats. Ezio was sung by Gaetano Guadagni, Valentiniano by Giovanni Toschi, Massimo by Giuseppe Tibaldi, and Fulvia by Rosa Tibaldi.