- Roland (Piccinni)
"Roland" is a
tragédie lyrique in three acts by the composerNiccolò Piccinni . Theopera was a new setting of a libretto written byPhilippe Quinault forJean-Baptiste Lully in 1685, specially adapted for Piccinni byJean-François Marmontel . The opera was first performed at theAcadémie royale de musique ,Paris onJanuary 27 1778 .Background and performance history
"Roland" was the first opera Piccinni wrote for Paris. He had been hired by the Académie royale de musique in 1776, in spite of his ignorance of the French language. Piccinni still knew no French when he was composing "Roland" and had to be helped all the way by his librettist Marmontel, who provided a translation of every word along with details on how to accentuate it correctly. Marmontel also helped Piccinni come to terms with the French style of opera, which was very different from the Italian. The French preferred short
aria s, accompaniedrecitative and plenty of dance movements. In spite of these obstacles, "Roland" was a great success at its premiere."Roland" forms part of a late 18th century vogue for resetting libretti Quinault had written for Lully, the first major French opera composer, almost one hundred years before. Another famous example is
Gluck 's "Armide" (1776). In fact, Gluck - who was regarded as Piccinni's rival in Paris - was said to have abandoned work on his own setting of "Roland" when he learnt of Piccinni's version. Piccinni went on to set another Quinault libretto, "Atys", in 1779.Roles
ynopsis
Marmontel's revised libretto adheres closely to Quinault's original. The major changes are the omission of the allegorical
prologue and the reduction of Quinault's five acts to three. For an outline of the plot seeRoland (Lully) .Recording
*"Roland" Soloists, Bratislava Chamber Choir, Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia conducted by
David Golub (Dynamic, 2001)ources
*"Viking Opera Guide" ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
* [http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Start=0&Giorno=27&Mese=01&Anno=1778&Giornata=&Testo=&Parola=Stringa Amadeus Online]
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