| Hob. # | Genre/Title | Instruments/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 28:4 |
Dramma giocoso Le pescatrici |
In 3 Acts - Libretto Carlo Goldoni |
You may have noticed a pattern with some of Haydn's operas in that so far they are not composed for random occasions, but rather for some sort of celebration. Some of those occasions are obvious; the opening of the opera house (Lo Speziale) or the great masquerade at Pressburg's Carnival celebration (La Cantarina). Some of them are also a bit more subtle unless you know some background of the Austro-Hungarian culture. The 1763 opera, Acide, which was composed for the marriage of Nicholas' son is one of these. As we recall, it was actually called a festa teatrale, which implies it was more than just an opera, it was of a special kind and was placed within a setting which made it larger than the sum of its parts.
The genre festa teatrale is rather sketchily defined, even by The New Grove, but the various definitions are in agreement on a few things. The lion's share of these were composed specifically for the Habsburg Court, and most of the librettos are by Metastasio, court poet. They are an abbreviated opera seria in form, all of the plots use mythological characters, and they are intended to make a point, which may be subtle to us but never was for the intended recipient! Well-intentioned rather than malicious, the message was usually a reminder of the need to be wise, self-controlled and benevolent. If the celebration was a wedding, there was the additional demonstration of the benefit of love and fidelity. If the concept of this sort of allegory eludes you, think about Dickens' A Christmas Carol, where Scrooge was being shown in his 'dreams' how to remediate his life of greed and insensitivity to others. If this had music, it would be a festa teatrale! The key point is the aspect of ritual. The ritual was a constant and based on a common understanding. There is depth of meaning to all of this which goes beyond the surface appearance of 'just an Italian opera'.
So how does Le Pescatrici stack up against this model. Opera seria? No, actually it is Haydn's first opera semiseria. It has two seria parts and five buffo parts. Libretto written for the Habsburg Court? No, it was written for Venice's Carnival season in 1752. By Metastasio? No, by Carlo Goldoni. Mythological characters? Well, no, fisher girls in Italy. It has a Prince though. Short, two acts, lovely music? Well, it's rather longish, actually, three acts. However, we finally hit a home-run with the lovely music part! So how does this make the festa teatrale list then? Well, technically it probably wouldn't be called one. But de facto it is one because of the use to which it was put and the setting in which it was given. Let's look at that aspect, then.
This was actually Haydn's first, full-length opera. It was done on a grand scale too! The Prince wasn't holding back in his effort to show off his new opera house. Haydn had seven soloists plus a chorus to work with. There are nine changes of scene, and seven separate sets which needed to be built. One of those was a beach with a ship which actually moved! In addition to the musicians in the Prince's employ, singers were imported from Eisenstadt to fill out the choruses. It should be remembered that marriages in the aristocratic classes of the Habsburg empire were almost exclusively made for political reasons. So the spectacle and pomp which surrounded them is part and parcel of that tradition. There was a non-stop carousel of amusements beginning on Sunday and lasting through Tuesday, and the opera was merely the jewel in the crown, so to speak. As an example of the sort of majesty which Nicholas could (and did) summon up as adjunct to the opera, he had the bride and groom driven to a forest clearing, and suddenly all of the neighboring peasants appeared and began singing and dancing, with great happiness appearing on their faces. Even this was a double meaning sort of event though. Since the Esterházy's recently had been rather harshly criticized by the Empress for their stern treatment of their peasants, this was probably meant to demonstrate the beneficence now being employed. Especially since it made the news release. In addition, the back wall of the theater could be made to disappear during pastoral scenes so the natural parkland view would become part of the set.
So, Countess Lamberg, the 'Dear Niece', and Count Poggi (sic – Pocci) were wed in the chapel on Sunday afternoon and the party repaired to the opera house for the first performance of Le Pescatrici. On Monday, the opera presented was a German singspiel. Then, on Tuesday, Haydn's opera was presented a second time to great acclaim. Did I mention there were 400 guests on hand for all this? Guess it slipped my mind!
The story is a straightforward opera staple, in which the heroine is actually the lost daughter of a murdered king, living in unknowing exile in order to survive attempts by the same cabal to kill her too. She has been raised as a fisher girl, and lives in a coastal village plying her trade with her good friends. A prince (Lindoro) arrives looking for her, with the intention of marrying her and thus gaining the kingdom (Benevento) to which she is the rightful heir and adding it to his (Sorrento). Eventually she is identified and they sail off into the sunset. Other than the varied contexts, the story itself is opera gold, having been retold often in different settings and with different characters. Goldoni does a splendid job of it though, and it was set often over the years. Haydn's music is wonderfully imaginative and ideal for the poetry. You can see the allegorical aspect of the story for the target audience; the wedding itself is intended to also perpetuate the lineages involved, and strengthen them. There are certainly forward looking aspects to Goldoni's style which changes the pattern of festa teatrale from a mythical land of gods and goddesses to an actual place and time on the coast of the Ionian Sea with real people, the fisher girls and their boyfriends. In addition to changing the equation of the aristocrats being deities, it also adds some verisimilitude to the story and makes it more interesting. It is still allegory, since allegory stems from actions rather than specific people or places, and thus serves the larger purpose of getting the point across. It is just more entertaining now!
It is unknown why the two performances at the wedding feast became the only ones until the late 20th century. They were hugely successful, and Haydn was unduly proud of them. The next season in Vienna, court composer Florian Gassmann set the story again, and obviously borrowed hugely from Haydn's setting. Which is not such a bad thing. The original score and performance parts were sadly damaged in Eszterháza and a large part of the 2nd movement was lost. The performance score which exists today is reconstructed in some parts; from contemporary music by Haydn, the original libretto, and the work of H.C. Robbins-Landon. He documents fully in Chronicle & Works Vol. II exactly what was done. Daniel Heartz, in Haydn, Mozart & The Viennese School 1740-1780 talks about the Gassmann version and how it could easily be used as patching material, since comparison of the existing parts shows that he copied Haydn in his musical structures. However, as far as I know this has never been done. It could well be interesting. The overture was also missing from the parts when they were first discovered, and the first movement of Symphony #57 was substituted. Shortly thereafter an original manuscript for the overture turned up in the US Library of Congress and it turned out to be the one movement work which Hoboken had been calling Symphony #106. The parts are now comfortably back together.
There is only one recording of this opera, possibly the reconstructed bits (they really are virtually seamless!) have scared some people off. Not that Haydn gets regularly programmed anyway, even though there are sound reasons for his operas being different from the norm, it doesn't change the fact they are unique!
So 1770 has drawn to a close. Two decades gone already and we have scarcely scratched the surface of the body of works which Haydn left behind!
Thanks for reading!