Organization

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Sonia Prina

Deianira

Soprano

Nuria Rial

Iole

Bass

Federico Benetti

Ercole

Conductor

Baptiste Lopez

MusikTheater an der Wien

Others

Basel Chamber Orchestra

Italian

Deianira, Iole ed Ercole

Vienna

Austria

Theater an der Wien

Public

Approved

"Because some are in the dark and the others are in the light, and you see those in the light, you can't see those in the dark," wrote Bertolt Brecht, and this finding applies more to few people than to the now unknown Italian aristocrat Aurora Sanseverino (1669-1726). The art collector brought together the greatest baroque artists in her salon in Naples and often gave decisive commissions to young composers. On his first trip to Italy, the 22-year-old Handel composed the Serenata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo for Sanseverino, a subject that accompanied the composer throughout his life. And even before Nicola Antonio Porpora began working as a singing teacher in Naples, with which he would become famous across Europe, In 1711, Sanseverino commissioned the 25-year-old composer to compose a one-act serenata: Deianira, Iole ed Ercole. The piece was a present for her son's wedding. For the young musicians, the commission from the respected art patron in the then opera metropolis of Naples was an essential boost for their further careers, which later led both composers to London at the same time. Nicola Giuvo's libretto tells the love story of Deianira and Hercules from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The hero Hercules was prophesied that no living person could defeat him. When his second wife Deianira is kidnapped by the centaur Nessos, Hercules kills the fugitive with a poison arrow. As she dies, Nessos advises the princess to catch his blood, and if she soaks Hercules' robe in it, he would never look at another woman again. The action of the Serenata begins at the time when Hercules falls in love with Iole, the daughter of King Eurytus, and is not ready to regret his betrayal of Deianira. Jealous and desperate, she hands Hercules a shirt soaked in the blood of Nessus. But instead of loyalty, the poisoned shirt triggers hellish pain in Hercules, who burns himself alive to end his torment. The oracle was right: no living person could kill Hercules, and Deianira and Iole are left lonely. soaked in the blood of Nessus. But instead of loyalty, the poisoned shirt triggers hellish pain in Hercules, who burns himself alive to end his torment. The oracle was right: no living person could kill Hercules, and Deianira and Iole are left lonely. soaked in the blood of Nessus. But instead of loyalty, the poisoned shirt triggers hellish pain in Hercules, who burns himself alive to end his torment. The oracle was right: no living person could kill Hercules, and Deianira and Iole are left lonely.

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Ensemble