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Catone (Handel)
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Catone (Handel)
Catone (Cato, HWV A7) is an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel. It is one of Handel's nine pasticcio works made up of music and arias by other composers than him. The opera was first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London, on 4 November 1732.
The libretto was written by Metastasio.
A first version of his libretto was set to music by Leonardo Vinci whose opera premiered in Rome on 19 January 1728. However, Metastasio's Catone in Utica was initially received with mixed feelings. While Naples's audiences had just accepted Dido's death in the flames at the end of Didone abbandonata (1724), Rome's were unwilling to watch Cato's agonizingly slow death which spanned the last two scenes of the opera, and unwilling to do without the expected "lieto fine". Neither were they impressed by the scene set in a disused sewer. Metastasio therefore revised his libretto (in particular the last act). In this second version Cato's death is simply reported and all that remains of the "acquedotti antichi" is the entrance to it, with a fountain dedicated to the goddess Isis. This second version was set to music by Leo, whose opera premiered on 26 December 1728 in Venice.
Handel's Catone is primarily based on Leo's opera, and therefore on the second version of the libretto, to which further cuts and adjustments were made. For instance, the character of Fulvio is completely edited out in Handel's version.
The subject of the opera, set in Utica, is the suicide of Cato the Younger (95 BC – April 46 BC) as he refuses to submit to Cesar.
Cesar has crossed the Rubicon and taken over the power of Rome by force. Cato, fervent champion of the republic, fled to Utica after the defeat and death of Pompey, his ally against Cesar. Despite his overwhelming military superiority, Cesar tries to win Cato as a friend; his marriage to Cato's daughter Marzia, who secretly loves him, might win Cato over. However, Cato has already promised Marzia to the Numidian prince Arbace. Emilia, widow of Cato's late-ally Pompey, also intrigues against Marzia's marriage to Cesar. Cato, unable to give up his law-abiding principles and seeing no way out of his face-off with Cesar, commits suicide in accordance with his Stoic philosophy.
The surviving London score of Handel's arrangement, now in the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg collection, is clearly based on a London copy of Leo's opera, confirming that Handel used Leo's opera as a starting point. This London copy of Leo's Catone in Utica, now in the possession of the Royal Academy of Music, was originally owned by Sir John Buckworth.
Sir John Buckworth was one of the directors of the Royal Academy in 1726 and a member of the directorate of the Opera of the Nobility in 1733, and would have known Handel. He also happens to be the dedicatee of Porpora's Semiramide which, just like Leo's Catone, was premiered at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo (Venice) during the 1728–29 season. Buckworth also owned a copy of Porpora's Semiramide. He could have brought it back with him from Italy along with the copy of Leo's Catone.
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Catone (Handel)
Catone (Cato, HWV A7) is an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel. It is one of Handel's nine pasticcio works made up of music and arias by other composers than him. The opera was first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London, on 4 November 1732.
The libretto was written by Metastasio.
A first version of his libretto was set to music by Leonardo Vinci whose opera premiered in Rome on 19 January 1728. However, Metastasio's Catone in Utica was initially received with mixed feelings. While Naples's audiences had just accepted Dido's death in the flames at the end of Didone abbandonata (1724), Rome's were unwilling to watch Cato's agonizingly slow death which spanned the last two scenes of the opera, and unwilling to do without the expected "lieto fine". Neither were they impressed by the scene set in a disused sewer. Metastasio therefore revised his libretto (in particular the last act). In this second version Cato's death is simply reported and all that remains of the "acquedotti antichi" is the entrance to it, with a fountain dedicated to the goddess Isis. This second version was set to music by Leo, whose opera premiered on 26 December 1728 in Venice.
Handel's Catone is primarily based on Leo's opera, and therefore on the second version of the libretto, to which further cuts and adjustments were made. For instance, the character of Fulvio is completely edited out in Handel's version.
The subject of the opera, set in Utica, is the suicide of Cato the Younger (95 BC – April 46 BC) as he refuses to submit to Cesar.
Cesar has crossed the Rubicon and taken over the power of Rome by force. Cato, fervent champion of the republic, fled to Utica after the defeat and death of Pompey, his ally against Cesar. Despite his overwhelming military superiority, Cesar tries to win Cato as a friend; his marriage to Cato's daughter Marzia, who secretly loves him, might win Cato over. However, Cato has already promised Marzia to the Numidian prince Arbace. Emilia, widow of Cato's late-ally Pompey, also intrigues against Marzia's marriage to Cesar. Cato, unable to give up his law-abiding principles and seeing no way out of his face-off with Cesar, commits suicide in accordance with his Stoic philosophy.
The surviving London score of Handel's arrangement, now in the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg collection, is clearly based on a London copy of Leo's opera, confirming that Handel used Leo's opera as a starting point. This London copy of Leo's Catone in Utica, now in the possession of the Royal Academy of Music, was originally owned by Sir John Buckworth.
Sir John Buckworth was one of the directors of the Royal Academy in 1726 and a member of the directorate of the Opera of the Nobility in 1733, and would have known Handel. He also happens to be the dedicatee of Porpora's Semiramide which, just like Leo's Catone, was premiered at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo (Venice) during the 1728–29 season. Buckworth also owned a copy of Porpora's Semiramide. He could have brought it back with him from Italy along with the copy of Leo's Catone.
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