Organization

Singer

Tenor

Colin Lee

Argirio

Soprano

Aleksandra Kurzak

Amenaide

Contralto

Vivica Genaux

Tancredi

Bass

Konstantin Wolff

Orbazzano

Mezzo-soprano

Liora Grodnikaite

Isaura

Ruby Hughes

Roggiero

Conductor

René Jacobs

Stage director

Stephen Lawless

Set designer

Gideon Davey

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Patricia Collins

MusikTheater an der Wien

Orchestra

Orchestre des Champs-Elysées

Italian

Vienna

Austria

Theater an der Wien

German

Approved

Tancredi Rossini

Video 2 TANCREDI / Theater an der Wien 2009

Video 1 TANCREDI / Theater an der Wien 2009

Video 1 TANCREDI  / Theater an der Wien 2009

The melodious Sicilian war and love drama Tancredi , based on Voltaire's French tragedy of the same name from 1760, was commissioned for the Venetian carnival season 1812/13. For the 21-year-old Gioachino Rossini, who was at the beginning of his career, this meant a special challenge. He was only able to establish himself as a recognized opera composer with a successful opera seria. However, in order to meet the tastes of the Italian audience, the librettist Gaetano Rossi changed the tragic ending of Voltaire's drama into a conciliatory ending.

After years of bloody feud, the warring families of Argirio and Orbazzano join forces against the Saracens who are besieging the city. To strengthen the unity, Argirio Orbazzano promises the hand of his daughter Amenaide. However, she loves Tancredi, who was expropriated and exiled during the civil war. For his part, Tancredi is not yet aware of Amenaide's planned wedding to Orbazzano. In her need, Amenaide Tancredi wants to send a message in which she asks him to free the land of Orbazzano. But the letter ends up in Orbazzano's hands, whereupon Orbazzano believes the letter is addressed to the Saracen leader Solamir. Amenaide is arrested and sentenced to death. Believing that Amenaide betrayed him, Tancredi appears unrecognized, kills Orbazzano and later defeats the Saracens as leader. The people
cheers Tancredi and the lovers recognize their mutual loyalty. Nothing stands in the way of the young couple reuniting.

Tancredi is pure Rossini, a veritable firework of virtuoso and lyrical arias. Soon after the premiere in February 1813 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Tancredi's triumphal march over the European opera stages began. The contagious Rossini fever was also rampant in Vienna; Tancredi was played for the first time in the Theater an der Wien as early as 1817 . Even the inveterate Rossini opponent Richard Wagner was not immune to Rossini's popularity and quoted Tancredi's famous performance cavatina “Di tanti palpiti” in the third act of his Meistersinger von Nürnberg .

English

Tancredi by Rossini, From (2009/2009), Directed by Stephen Lawless,, Conductor René Jacobs, Theater an der Wien, Vienna, Austria

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

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Further reading

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