Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes
2
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CD (Compact Disc)
Herkömmliche CD, die mit allen CD-Playern und Computerlaufwerken, aber auch mit den meisten SACD- oder Multiplayern abspielbar ist.
Thomas Arne war einer der großen allen Widrigkeiten zum Trotz überlebenden des Theaters des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts. Seine Laufbahn begann vielversprechend. In seinen frühen Zwanzigern führte er eine nicht genehmigte Produktion von Acis and Galatea auf, die Händel dazu anspornte, die englische Sprache ernsthaft für das Theater zu gebrauchen. Einige Jahre später verhalfen seine eigenen Maskenspiele Comus und Alfred ihm zu Ansehen als führender Komponist im englischen Theater, einem Ruf, der durch die wunderbare Begleitmusik, die er in den frühen 1740ern für Shakespeares Stücke schrieb, bestätigt wurde; seine Vertonungen sind noch immer diejenigen, die die meisten Menschen mit „Blow, blow thou winter wind“, „Where the bee sucks“ oder „Under the greenwood tree“ assoziieren. Danach hatte Arne, aus welchem Grunde auch immer, nahezu zwanzig Jahre lang keinen großen Erfolg. Während dieser Zeit schrieb er allerhand Theatermusik jeglicher Art, die jedoch größtenteils vom Mißerfolg gekrönt war, nie gedruckt wurde, und dadurch verlorenging. Er wurde von seiner streitsüchtigen Veranlagung, dem Scheitern seiner Ehe (seine Frau Cecilia war seine Zugkraft), und seiner Neigung eigene Librettos zu schreiben—er war kein Schriftsteller—geplagt. In den späten 1750ern war er knapp bei Kasse und griff zu der Maßnahme, einige der Musikstücke zu veröffentlichen, die er in den zwei vorangehenden Jahrzehnten geschrieben hatte.
Thomas Arne was one of the great survivors of eighteenth-century theatrical life: in his early twenties he put on an unauthorized production of Acis and Galatea that prodded Handel into taking English seriously as a language for theatrical works. It should therefore come as no surprise that in the three years from 1759 he has three smash hits of his own, each an original masterpiece that effectively created a new genre.
Artaxerxes, the second of these, was the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria libretto in English.
The story of the rebellious captain of the guard's attempts to usurp the Persian throne in the fifth century BC had captured the attention of several composers, but Arne's opera particularly successful because it was an excellent vehicle for great singing. Mandane's spectacular aria 'The Soldier, tir'd of War's Alarms' remained a show-piece for sopranos through much of the nineteenth century and has never entirely dropped out of the repertory.
When Haydn saw Artaxerxes in 1791 he was delighted with it and reportedly said he 'had no idea we had such an opera in the English language'.
'Rich orchestrations, virtuoso vocal parts and captivating tunes ... A work of many charms' (BBC Music Magazine)
'Oodles of stunning arias ... If you only buy one opera set this year, against all the odds make it Artaxerxes and prepare, like Haydn, to be amazed!' (Classic CD)
'This sparkling performance readily explains why Arne's opera was such a success when first produced at Covent Garden in 1762. Roy Goodman's direction is inspired' (The Guardian)
'A warm welcome to the first recording of this opera, a work of great historical importance and musically fascinating ... enormously enjoyable, full of good melodies, richly orchestrated, never long-winded ... This is certainly a set that I can recommend warmly to anyone curious about this byway of 18th-century opera and to anyone who is drawn to Arne's very individual and appealing style' (Gramophone)
Product-Information:
Thomas Arne was one of the great survivors of eighteenth-century theatrical life: in his early twenties he put on an unauthorized production of Acis and Galatea that prodded Handel into taking English seriously as a language for theatrical works. It should therefore come as no surprise that in the three years from 1759 he has three smash hits of his own, each an original masterpiece that effectively created a new genre.
Artaxerxes, the second of these, was the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria libretto in English.
The story of the rebellious captain of the guard's attempts to usurp the Persian throne in the fifth century BC had captured the attention of several composers, but Arne's opera particularly successful because it was an excellent vehicle for great singing. Mandane's spectacular aria 'The Soldier, tir'd of War's Alarms' remained a show-piece for sopranos through much of the nineteenth century and has never entirely dropped out of the repertory.
When Haydn saw Artaxerxes in 1791 he was delighted with it and reportedly said he 'had no idea we had such an opera in the English language'.
Rezensionen
'Rich orchestrations, virtuoso vocal parts and captivating tunes ... A work of many charms' (BBC Music Magazine)
'Oodles of stunning arias ... If you only buy one opera set this year, against all the odds make it Artaxerxes and prepare, like Haydn, to be amazed!' (Classic CD)
'This sparkling performance readily explains why Arne's opera was such a success when first produced at Covent Garden in 1762. Roy Goodman's direction is inspired' (The Guardian)
'A warm welcome to the first recording of this opera, a work of great historical importance and musically fascinating ... enormously enjoyable, full of good melodies, richly orchestrated, never long-winded ... This is certainly a set that I can recommend warmly to anyone curious about this byway of 18th-century opera and to anyone who is drawn to Arne's very individual and appealing style' (Gramophone)
Rezensionen
M. Hutzel in FonoForum 6/96: "Eine Entdeckung be- sonderer Art: Die erste Opera seria in englischer Sprache von Thomas Augustine Arne."- Tracklisting
- Details
- Mitwirkende
Disk 1 von 2
Artaxerxes (1762) (Oper in 3 Akten (Arne nach Metastasio))
- 1 Ouverture
- 2 1. Akt, 1 Still Silence Reigns Around (Rezitativ)
- 3 1. Akt, 2 Fair Aurora, Pry'thee stay (Mandane, Arbaces)
- 4 1. Akt, 3 Alas, Thou Know'st That For My Love Of Thee (Rezitativ)
- 5 1. Akt, 4 Adieu, Thou Lovely Youth (Mandane)
- 6 1. Akt, 5 O Cruel Parting (Rezitativ)
- 7 1. Akt, 6 Amid A Thousand Racking Woes (Arbaces)
- 8 1. Akt, 7 Be Firm My Heart (Rezitativ)
- 9 1. Akt, 8 Behold, On Lethe's Dismal Strand (Artabanes)
- 10 1. Akt, 9 Stay, Artaxerxes, Stay (Rezitativ)
- 11 1. Akt, 10 Fair Semira, Lovely Maid (Artaxerxes)
- 12 1. Akt, 11 I Fear Some Dread Disaster (Rezitativ)
- 13 1. Akt, 12 When Real Joys We Miss (Rimenes)
- 14 1. Akt, 13 Ye Gods, Protectors Of The Persian Empire (Rezitativ)
- 15 1. Akt, 14 How Hard Is The Fate (Semira)
- 16 1. Akt, 15 Where Do I Fly (Rezitativ)
- 17 1. Akt, 16 Thy Father! Away, I Renounce The Soft Claim (Artaxerxes)
- 18 1. Akt, 17 Ye Cruel Gods, What Crime Have I Committed? (Rezitativ)
- 19 1. Akt, 18 Acquit Thee Of This Foul Offence (Semira)
- 20 1. Akt, 19 Appearance, I Must Own, Is Strong Against Me (Rezitativ)
- 21 1. Akt, 20 O Too Lovely, Too Unkind (Arbaces)
- 22 1. Akt, 21 Dear And Beloved Shade Of My Dead Father (Rezitativ)
- 23 1. Akt, 22 Fly, Soft Ideas, Fly (Mandane)
- 24 2. Akt, 1 Guards, Speed Ye To The Tower (Rezitativ)
- 25 2. Akt, 2 In Infancy, Our Hopes And Fears (Artaxerxes)
- 26 2. Akt, 3 So Far My Great Resolve Succeeds (Rezitativ)
- 27 2. Akt, 4 Disdainful You Fly Me (Arbaces)
- 28 2. Akt, 5 Why, My Dear Friend, So Pensive, So Inactive? (Rezitativ)
- 29 2. Akt, 6 To Sigh And Complain (Rimenes)
- 30 2. Akt, 7 How Many Links To Dire Misfortune's Chain (Rezitativ)
- 31 2. Akt, 8 If o'er The Cruel Tyrant Love (Mandane)
- 32 2. Akt, 9 Which Fatal Evil Shall I First Oppose? (Rezitativ)
- 33 2. Akt, 10 If The River's Swelling Waves (Semira)
Disk 2 von 2
- 1 2. Akt, 11 Ye Solid Pillars Of The Persian Empire (Rezitativ)
- 2 2. Akt, 12 By That Belov'd Embrace (Arbaces)
- 3 2. Akt, 13 Ah Me! At Poor Arbaces Parting (Rezitativ)
- 4 2. Akt, 14 Monster, Away (Mandane)
- 5 2. Akt, 15 See, Lov'd Semira
- 6 2. Akt, 16 Thou, Like The Glorious Sun (Artaxerxes)
- 7 2. Akt, 17 Why Is Death For Ever Late (Arbaces)
- 8 2. Akt, 18 Arbaces (Rezitativ)
- 9 2. Akt, 19 Water Parted From The Sea (Arbaces)
- 10 2. Akt, 20 That Front, Secure In Conscious Innocence (Rezitativ)
- 11 2. Akt, 21 Tho'oft A Cloud, With Envious Shade (Artaxerxes)
- 12 2. Akt, 22 My Son, Arbaces - Where Art Thou Retir'd (Rezitativ)
- 13 2. Akt, 23 O Let The Danger Of A Son (Rimenes)
- 14 2. Akt, 24 Ye Adverse Gods (Rezitativ)
- 15 2. Akt, 25 O, Much Lov'd Son, If Death (Artabanes)
- 16 2. Akt, 26 Perhaps The King Releas'd Arbaces (Rezitativ)
- 17 2. Akt, 27 Let Not Rage Thy Bosom Firing (Mandane)
- 18 2. Akt, 28 What Have I Done! Alas, I Vainly Thought (Rezitativ)
- 19 2. Akt, 29 'Tis Not true, That In Our Grief (Semira)
- 20 2. Akt, 30 Nor Here My Searching Eyes Can Find Mandane (Rezitativ)
- 21 2. Akt, 31 For Thee I Live, My Dearest (Arbaces und Mandane)
- 22 2. Akt, 32 To You My People, Much Belov'd, I Offer (Rezitativ)
- 23 2. Akt, 33 The Soldier, Tir'd Of War's Alarms (Mandane)
- 24 2. Akt, 34 Behold My King, Arbaces At Thy Feet (Rezitativ)
- 25 2. Akt, 35 Live To Us, To Empire Live (Chor)
