Hasse's Siroe in Versailles
Monday, November 24, 2014
On November 26, the opera Siroe, re di Persia by Johann Adolf Hasse will premiere at the Opera Royal de Versailles. This is a nice opportunity to take a look at the more than 150 sources for this opera that are in the RISM database.
Two sources from Dresden are available in digital form. One is a full score that comes from the Royal Private Music Collection and the other one is the overture from the court orchestra archives (part of Schrank II).
Over 40 records for individual arias can today be found in the Musik- och teaterbiblioteket in Stockholm. The dissemination of the remaining sources in places such as London, Münster, Brüssel, Hamburg, and Meiningen are evidence of the success of this opera.
It was not only this opera by Hasse that enjoyed popularity. The libretto by Pietro Metastasio inspired numerous composers to set the text. In addition to the opera by Handel, which is probably the most famous setting, there are also versions by Baldassare Galuppi, Davide Perez, Gaetano Latilla, Leonardo Vinci, and Pasquale Errichelli.
The upcoming performances in Versailles are based on Hasse’s reworked Dresden version. Below is a video about the production:
Photo credit: Portrait of Hasse from Wikimedia Commons.
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