Admin

Organization

Zanger

Tenor

Kurt Streit

Lucio Silla

Benjamin Bruns

Soprano

Patricia Petibon

Giunia

Julie Fuchs

Silvia Tro Santafé

Cecilio

Marina Comparato

Inga Kalna

Lucio Cinna

Hulkar Sabirova

María José Moreno

Celia

Anna Devin

Kenneth Tarver

Aufidio

Roger Padullés

Dirigent

Ivor Bolton

Regisseur

Claus Guth

Tine Buyse

Set designer

Christian Schmidt

Kostuum ontwerper

Licht ontwerper

Manfred Voss

Koor meester

Andrés Máspero

Dramaturg

Ronny Dietrich

Teatro Real de Madrid

Others

Coro Intermezzo

Orchestra

Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid

Madrid

Spanje

Teatro Real

Lucio Silla by Mozart from Teatro Real - Madrid, performed at Teatro Real, 2017. Directed by Claus Guth, conductor Ivor Bolton. Starring Kurt Streit (Lucio Silla), Patricia Petibon (Giunia), Silvia Tro Santafé (Cecilio), Inga Kalna (Lucio Cinna), Maria Jose Moreno (Celia) and Kenneth Tarver (Aufidio). Performance Language Italian and Subtitled in German, English, Spanish, Italian and Korean.

The central character of Mozart’s opera Lucio Silla is inspired by the historical figure of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, a dictator and Roman general who ruled during the 1st century BC. In this production at Madrid’s Teatro Real, an intriguing minimalist staging is complemented by Ivor Bolton’s expert music direction, and a talented cast. 

Composed when he was just 16, Mozart’s opera Lucio Silla offers incredible perspective on the child prodigy’s compositional genius. Premiered in Milan in December 1772, his third opera and second opera seria is marked by contemporary Neapolitan tastes and puts on full display the young Mozart’s total mastery of his personal musical language, a language that would become familiar as he went on to compose his best known masterpieces. 

The opera’s dramatic plot opens to Lucio Silla becoming infatuated with Giunia, the daughter of his enemy Caius Marius, who herself is in love with Cecilio, a Roman senator exiled by Silla. Giunia rejects Lucio Silla. Meanwhile, his sister Celia conspires with Cinna, his brother's political enemy, to attack him... This profound moral reflection on revenge, betrayal, honor, and forgiveness eventually leads to an unexpected outcome.

Mozart had just turned 16 when he received the commission for Lucio Silla in March 1771. A year and a half later, he had written all the recitatives and travelled to Milan where he would compose the arias and begin rehearsals. The third of his operas opened at the Teatro Regio Ducal in December 1772 with a cast of some of the best voices of that time - not for nothing - as the score is devilishly difficult and only for singers with unshakable technique. Only a few years later, Johann Christian Bach used the libretto for his own opera. He maintained the conventional model of 18th century European opera seria, with a story about the value of magnanimity. The Roman dictator Silla – a role inspired by the general of the same name – tries to use his political influence to conquer the daughter of his sworn enemy, Giunia, with whom he is in love. However, the girl’s affections are for the exiled Roman senator Cecilio. Silla’s initial scheme falls apart, and in the end, his feelings of compassion compel him to give up his love and even renounce his power. The opera suggests that virtuous decisions are always the right ones.

Mozart had just turned 16 in March 1771 when he was commissioned to write Lucio Silla. A year and a half later he had written all the recitatives and had travelled to Milan, where he would work on the music for the arias and begin rehearsals. His third opera was first performed at the Teatro Regio Ducal in December 1772, with a cast including some of the best voices of the moment. It was just as well: the notoriously difficult score can only be tackled by singers with a solid command of vocal technique.

 

The libretto, which just two years later would be used by Johann Christian Bach for his own opera, follows the typical format of 18th century European opera seria, and proposes magnanimity as the moral value which is central to the plot. Silla, the dictator of Rome, based on the historic figure Sulla, plans to use his political power to win the woman he loves, Giunia, the daughter of his enemy. However, she loves Cecilio, a senator exiled for political reasons. Silla’s initial intention gradually falls away and is replaced by compassion, leading him to make way for love, and even to give up power. The opera shows us that virtuous decisions are always the right ones.

 

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Lucio Silla Mozart

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