Organization

Singer

Soprano

Miriam Albano

Emilia

Countertenor

Valeria La Grotta

Arbace

Conductor

Federico Maria Sardelli

Stage director

Marco Bellussi

Set designer

Matteo Paoletti Franzato

Lighting designer

Marco Cazzola

Tenor

Valentino Buzza

Catone

Arianna Vendittelli

Cesare

Chiara Brunello

Fulvio

Mezzo-soprano

Valeria Girardello

Marzia

Costume designer

Elisa Cobello

Teatro Comunale di Ferrara

Orchestra

Orchestra Barocca dello Spirito Santo

Catone in Utica -  (Cato in Utica)

Ferrara

Italy

Teatro Comunale

Catone in Utica Vivaldi

Public

Private

Cato in Utica

Approved

After the success of "Il Farnace", the Teatro Comunale of Ferrara continues the project of rediscovery and enhancement of the rare and evocative works of Antonio Vivaldi, performing "Cato in Utica", staged on 17 and 19 March 2023.

The work is inspired by the historical events of the opposition between Caesar and Cato after the battles of Pharsalus and Thapsus. The story, however, does not take place on a battlefield but rather in a villa by the sea, perhaps the private retreat of Emilia, Pompey's widow. Sets and costumes synthesize classic and contemporary references, elegance and essentiality.

The 'red priest' tried to bring this work to the city of his mentor, the Marquis Bentivoglio, without success. Considered among the greatest compositions of his maturity, Cato in Utica will be performed for the first time in Ferrara after 300 years.

Characters and performers:

Cato (Valentino Buzza)
Cesare (Arianna Vendittelli)
Emilia (Miriam Albano)
Marzia (Valeria Girardello)
Fulvio (Chiara Brunello)
Arbace (Valeria La Grotta)

As had already happened for the "twin" composition of Farnace, performed in 2021, the new production of the Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Ferrara confirms Federico Maria Sardelli as conductor of the Baroque Orchestra Accademia dello Spirito Santo and Marco Bellussi as director. Scenes by Matteo Paoletti Franzato, costumes by Elisa Cobello, lights by Marco Cazzola. Video interventions by Creativite.

Far from wanting to give a reconstruction, Bellussi and Sardelli, among the greatest experts on the Venetian composer, preferred to present the work to the public as it has come down to us, certain of its strong expressive power.

Per l’allestimento veronese del 1737 Vivaldi mise in musica il secondo e il terzo atto del celebre dramma metastasiano, riscuotendo uno straordinario successo (le spese vennero coperte dopo sole sei recite), testimoniato, oltre che da una lettera del compositore, da uno spettatore d’eccezione, il principe elettore di Baviera Carlo Alberto.

Catone cerca di riorganizzare a Utica la resistenza del partito pompeiano contro Cesare, avvalendosi dell’appoggio del principe Arbace. Tenta così di ribaltare la vittoria dei cesariani, opponendo il suo sdegnoso rifiuto alle offerte di pace giunte dapprima dal senato (tramite Fulvio) e quindi da Cesare stesso, che, arrivato di persona, si vede accolto dal disprezzo più palese dell’uticense. Neanche la richiesta della mano di Marzia (Cesare e la ragazza si amano segretamente) riesce a smuovere l’irriducibile repubblicano, sempre più indignato perché la figlia preferisce il nemico della patria al principe Arbace. Intanto viene organizzata una congiura per assassinare Cesare: Emilia, per vendicarsi della morte del marito Pompeo, induce Cesare a passare per un antico acquedotto, dove la donna l’attende con i suoi sicari. L’arrivo di Marzia e quindi quello di Catone ritardano l’attuazione del piano, sventato del tutto dall’entrata in Utica delle truppe di Cesare. Catone viene convinto a non suicidarsi, mentre il vincitore perdona generosamente i nemici.

italiano

"Performed for the first time in Verona in 1737, it is a sister work to the Farnace - explains Federico Maria Sardelli, who will conduct the Baroque Orchestra Accademia dello Spirito Santo - And even Cato in Utica has come down to us incomplete: the first one has been lost deed”; and starting from the second act it will be performed in Ferrara.

The story described in the verses of Pietro Metastasio and set to music by Antonio Vivaldi is placed in the wake of a historical event of significant importance, namely the Pompeian turning point which pitted Caesar against Cato. The plot therefore arises in the context of the bloody battles of Pharsalus, in which Pompey was killed - a very influential past fact for the plot of the work - and Tapso. These armed confrontations saw the progressive strengthening of the Caesarian militias in the end incumbent on Utica, Cato's extreme stronghold. The framework in which the story is inserted, expertly articulated by the Caesarian poet, should therefore take on martial traits and immerse us in a combat zone. Reading the work, however, it is evident that the relationship dynamics between the characters are not those that could develop on the battlefront. Not even the heated and harsh recitatives between Cato and Cesare, which inflame the wrath of the Uticians, lead the imagination to a military context. On the contrary, the contradictory, the clash and the competition seem to be placed in a much more civilized context which, by virtue of its composure, enhances by contrast the pointed dialectic desired by Cato. The direction therefore imagines a courteous context, a residence appropriate to the rank of the protagonists, perhaps the private retreat of Emilia, Pompeo's widow. She is certainly a central figure in the unfolding of events. Her highly developed wit, armed with a grudge for killing her husband, makes her a shrewd calculator against Cesare; and her house,
The scenographic system by Matteo Paoletti Franzato and the costumes by Elisa Cobello support the need to find a synthesis between classical and contemporary references, between elegance of the line and crudeness of the cut, becoming the frame and viaticum of the universal drama of private feelings that intertwine to become political.

English

Cato in Utica by Vivaldi, De (2023/2023), Dirigit per Marco Bellussi,, Director musical Federico Maria Sardelli, Teatro Comunale, Ferrara, Italy

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