Armida (Sacchini)

Armida
Opera seria by Antonio Sacchini
Antonio Sacchini, engraved portrait
LibrettistJacopo Durandi
LanguageItalian
Based onTorquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata
Premiere
28 February 1782 (1782-02-28)
Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan

Armida is an opera seria in three acts with music by Antonio Sacchini set to a libretto by Jacopo Durandi [it] (a.k.a. Giacomo Duranti), based on the epic poem Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso. The opera was first performed during the 1772 Carnival season at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan.

In Armida, Sacchini incorporated many elements of French opera, including frequent use of chorus, ballet, and theatrical spectacle on a grand scale. Sacchini later wrote two more operas loosely based on the same story from Tasso: the 1780 London work Rinaldo, and his first French opera, Renaud, which was dedicated to Marie Antoinette.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere cast[1]
11 February 1772
Armida soprano Antonia Girelli Aguilar
Rinaldo soprano castrato Vito Giuseppe Millico
Ubaldo bass Giovanni Battista Zonca
Idreno alto castrato Giuseppe Cicognani
Clotarco contralto Rosa Polidora

References

  1. ^ source: excerpt from the original libretto, in italianopera.org
  • Libby, Dennis (2001). "Armida (iii)". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.‎


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