Rossini (Master Musicians Series) by Richard Osborne

Author:Richard Osborne [Osborne, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2007-09-27T03:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Early Operas (II): Demetrio e Polibio, L’equivoco stravagante, Ciro in Babilonia, La pietra del paragone

ROSSINI WAS 12 WHEN HE WROTE SIX VIVACIOUS AND CHARACterful string sonatas. At much the same time, he took the first step towards translating these precociously developed instrumental skills into his mother’s world of stage play and song. They were piecemeal efforts, of course; as was Demetrio e Polibio, the opera he assembled at the request of the Mombelli family to a libretto by Vincenzina Viganò-Mombelli whilst still a student in Bologna. Technically it is his first opera, though it was not staged professionally until 1812.

The opera’s title refers not to the young lovers, but to their fathers, the kings of Syria and Parthia. The kindlier Polibio is a father twice over: father to his daughter, Lisinga, and adopted father to her lover, Siveno, the estranged son of Demetrio, who is now living in the Parthian court. Demetrio, by contrast, is very much the villain of the piece. Turning up in disguise, he demands Siveno’s return to Syria and becomes aggressive when Siveno is reluctant to obey. Demetrio’s seizing of Lisinga and Polibio’s tit-for-tat arrest of Siveno precipitates the opera’s one moment of genuine confrontation and the famous quartet ‘Donami ormai Siveno’. The score’s other highlight is the duet ‘Questo cor ti giura amore’, during which the lovers pledge themselves before the high altar. It is a classic Rossini melody (ex. 7), announced in thirds after a rapt, horn-led introduction.

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