Opera goes public
- Lyn Richards
- Feb 25
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 3
What could go wrong for Cavalli? His singing voice was beautiful, his father was the maestro di cappella of the duomo of Crema, Monteverdi was his teacher, Venice was loaded with talented librettists and poised to bring opera out of the royal courts and into the new public theatres. And he created great operas, spectacles that were dramatic, witty, fast flowing and appealing to just that public.
It went right for Cavalli from the start. Born in 1602, Pier Francesco Caletti at 14 had became a singer in the choir of St. Mark's, Venice, under Claudio Monteverdi. He was second organist in 1639, first organist in 1665, and in 1668 became the next maestro di cappella. And we know he had a rich patron because he changed his name to that of his patron, rich Venetian nobleman Federico Cavalli.
Meanwhile, in 1636, also in Venice, another rich family won permission to rebuild the fire-damaged San Cassiano Theatre (left) and use it for music drama available to the public. Thus in 1637 the first public opera house with a fee opened - and quickly 16 others were built. 40 years on, more than 150 public operas had been offered. And as the illustration to the left suggests, all sorts attended!
Francesco Cavalli went on to produce 42 operas, and almost all premiered in the city's public theaters. No longer did opera belong in the privileged courts of the aristocracy.
He was the most popular Italian composer of his time and the most popular opera of the whole 17th century was his Giascone (1649). This was partly because it was created by an amazing librettist, unfettered by the Greek legend he starred with - dramatist and playwright, Giacinto Andrea Cicognini.
Treat! You can read the amazing libretto with English translation here.
Old and new opera
This is very different composing from Monteverdi's. You can see the lineage, (text comes first, emotions with the music - it's the 'second practice' in practice.) But there's a huge shift in dramatic style as opera comes to the people. The librettos are complex and characterization detailed in plots that are dramatic, often, (like Poppea), about real historical people or at least demigods, highlighting class systems and following the Shakespearean tradition of bawdy humour from the lower classes, contrasting with noble tragedy of the uppers.
And the music? As opera found its feet on public stages, it adapted to financial limitations. Cavalli wrote for a small string orchestra, not the lavish musical array of the courts Monteverdi entertained. Cavalli's operas require no trained chorus. Like Monteverdi, he wrote to a libretto (led by brilliant librettists), and the music was written to express the emotions. But Cavalli's solo parts show the start of the more formal recitative-aria technique to come.
And such music! Listen here to the most celebrated solo aria in Giasone - Medea's Incantation at the end of the first act. Giasone is leaving to seek the Golden Fleece, so she's using witchcraft to invoke Pluto to provide protection. How could he refuse?
"From your scorched lands", she sings, "great king of the darkness, listen to me carefully,
and if Cupid’s arrows ever wounded you,
grant me, o king of the underworld,
the amorous desire that excites my heart,
and may all of Avernus unite in the deed:
may the formidable monsters,
the fierce, tireless guardians
of Phrixus’ golden fleece,
today be made tame for Jason."
And the drama? These dramma per musica were written especially for the public opera houses that flourished in 17th-century Venice. They boasted splendid costumes and lavish sets, and the action was fast. Seventeenth-century Venetian opera audiences wanted value for money; long operas, fast paced, full of spectacle.
The challenge of Cavalli opera productions today is not only length and spectacle but adjusting to the musical requirements and persuading audiences not familiar with opera before Mozart to relish the experience.
Pinchgut Opera nailed it in Sydney 2013 - their web pages are here, and Erin Helyard, the musical director, offers a long and thoughtful comment on Giasone, his favourite opera, in a podcast here. His focus is on that famous "incantation" of Medea, a tour de force for sopranos.
Bachtrack's review of the production (here) concludes, "The Pinchgut production was not the reverent exhumation of a corpse, however; instead we experienced something much better – a joyous, animated resurrection."
Jason and the women in his life
I usually link to a synopsis for those who want to follow an opera along. So here's a brief synopsis. If you have time, check out the fuller Wiki synopsis which guides us through story and music. But I can't resist reprinting this spirited summary from David Johnson.
Cicognini turns the Jason legend on its head. On his way to capture the Golden Fleece, Jason stops off at Lemnos to dally with Queen Hipsipyle. He leaves her pregnant with what ultimately prove to be twins as he pursues his voyage with the other Argonauts, promising her that he will return to resume the “marriage.“ Arrived at Caichis, Jason again allows his heart (or a lower portion of his anatomy) to rule his head and takes up with a mysterious beauty who visits him only at night in his tent, and never allows him to see her. Eventually it transpires that she is none other than the imperious Medea, and by her he also has a pair of twins (there is no plot reason for the double sets, merely Cicognini's fancy).
Meanwhile the Argonauts, led by Hercules, have grown thoroughly disgusted with Jason's time-wasting philandering, and Hypsipyle has sent her wise- cracking servant, Orestes (what a name for a servant!) to find out why he hasn't returned to her and the babies. Orestes, in several very funny encounters with the hunchbacked stammerer Demo, soon learns the lay of the land. Demo is in the employ of Prince Aegeus, Medea's other lover, whom she had intended to marry until her lecherous nurse, Delfa, pointed out that the twins would be bastards unless she ditched Aegeus and married Jason.
However, Hypsipyle turns up in Colchis, twins and all, seeking Jason and singing a grand lamento that lasts a good quarter of an hour (or so it seems). Medea imperiously tells Jason to slay her rival, but Jason passes the buck to one of the Argonauts, Besso, who is to fling her into the sea when she utters the pass-phrase, “Has Jason's orders been executed?“ But Medea, impatient for the deed to be done and unaware of the password strategy, gets to Besso first with those very words. (Hypsipyle had been delayed by the necessity of nursing the twins.) Besso thereupon flings the great enchantress off a cliff into the ocean. But she is rescued by her spurned lover, Aegeus, and in gratitude decides to marry him after all.
Hypsipyle has heard of the plot on her own life and, brokenhearted (another very long lament), goes to Jason and asks him to kill her himself, but to spare her breasts so that they may continue supplying the children with sustenance. Thoroughly ashamed of his shabby treatment of her, Jason redeclares his love. The opera ends with general rejoicing and a good deal of stuttering on the part of Demo. This, mind you, merely covers the bare bones plot; there is all kinds of secondary action taking place as well.
If you weren't brought up on Jason and the Argonauts, here's the complicated legend that Cavalli's librettist definitely didn't follow. (And the article also has a delightful tabulation of all the offspring and relationships in the legend!)
Among other details, it includes of course the golden fleece, which doesn't complicate the basic plot of triangle of love/hate in Giasone. (Seen here as Jason presents the fleece to Pelius.
Our production - and yes, it's available online.
We're watching a much praised modern production from Antwerp, with French counter tenor Christophe Dumaux as Jason. Full cast and glowing action pics here.
There's a brief video intro here.
And another review here.
And yes, here it is in full on YouTube! (But sorry - no English subtitles.)
Lyn, 26/2/25
And for the Argonauts Club members.....
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