Baldassare Galuppi

L'Olimpiade

Олимпиада

"If you think of Galuppi only as a master of comic opera, then this serious work, first performed in Milan in 1748, will blow your mind. It is brilliant: the music is magnificently original and challenging; the singers are astonishingly accomplished; the orchestra is directed with great spirit and flexibility; and it has been excellently and appropriately recorded in the Malibran Theatre in Venice. The scenery, direction, and filming are restrained... but the fantastic music and the highly skilled performers carry the day."
— BBC Music Magazine

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Actors

Clistene

Aristea

Argene

Megacle

Licida

Alcandro

Aminta

Crew

Director

Dominique Poulange

Conductor

Andrea Marcon

Set and costume designer

Francesco Zito

Lighting Designer

Fabio Barettin

About

Baldassarre Galuppi was considered the leading exponent of Venetian comic opera, if not the absolute creator. Though he was shortly forgotten after his death, opera buffa gave him international fame, and it's only recently that his serious operas have begun to receive serious attention.

Composed according to tradition, with the use of new arias displaying various affetti (fury, contrast, outrage) as well as others borrowed from contemporary operas, this dramma per musica is a consistent work, where music and text are one, and the seven characters and their emotions are strongly portrayed.

The opera takes place in Olimpia during the games, and focuses on a complicated love intrigue. Megacle and Aristea are in love, but the maid is also loved by Megacle's friend Licida. Megacle owes his life to Licida, and therefore to honour this friendhip he is forced to win his beloved's hand for him. The situation gets more complicated, tragedy seems to darken the horizon, but the final happy ending settles things.

Pietro Metastasio wrote the libretto in Vienna in 1733, and many musicians put it in music: among the most famous Vivaldi, Pergolesi and Paisiello.