Xerse

"Xerse" is an opera by Francesco Cavalli - specifically, a "dramma per musica" about Xerxes I. The libretto was written by Nicolò Minato, and was later set by both Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel. Minato's plot outline is loosely based on Book 7 of Herodotus's "Histories". The opera, consisting of a prologue and three acts, was first performed at Venice in the January of 1654, at the Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo.

The opera was highly popular in Italy, not least due to Cavalli's setting of "Ombra mai fù" (later more famously set by Handel): 9 different revivals were given across Italy while Cavalli lived. In 1660 Cavalli was persuaded to travel to France to produce a new opera for the wedding of Louis XIV in Paris. Unfortunately for the composer, he soon became entangled in court intrigue which ensured that the projected opera, "Ercole amante", was not ready in time and had to be replaced by a revival of "Xerse" at the last minute. "Xerse" was given with ballets by Cavalli's rival Jean-Baptiste Lully, a Florentine who had become the official court composer in France. The whole spectacle lasted eight or nine hours and the French audience had little appreciation for an opera in a foreign language, preferring Lully's dance music.

Roles

Recording

*"Xerse" René Jacobs, Judith Nelson, Isabelle Poulenard, Guy de Mey, Dominique Visse, Concerto Vocale, conducted by René Jacobs (4 CDs, Harmonia Mundi, 1985)

References

*GroveOnline|Xerse (i)|Martha Novak Clinkscale|31 August|2007
*Booklet notes to the Jacobs recording.