Argippo

Argippo (RV 697) is an opera by Antonio Vivaldi that premiered in the opera theater of Count Franz Anton von Sporck in Prague in 1730. The libretto was preserved but the music was presumed to have been lost until portions of it (over two thirds) were discovered in 2006 in the private archive of the Thurn und Taxis house in Regensburg by harpsichordist and conductor Ondřej Macek. He stated: "I found out that in 1733, three years after the premiere... More

Argippo (RV 697) is an opera by Antonio Vivaldi that premiered in the opera theater of Count Franz Anton von Sporck in Prague in 1730. The libretto was preserved but the music was presumed to have been lost until portions of it (over two thirds) were discovered in 2006 in the private archive of the Thurn und Taxis house in Regensburg by harpsichordist and conductor Ondřej Macek. He stated: "I found out that in 1733, three years after the premiere, the Italian music ensemble appeared in Regensburg. They'd been invited there after the theatre in Prague burnt down." Macek used other arias from Vivaldi and said: "I used music from operas he wrote at the time, shortly before and after the date of the premiere, and sometimes they [the arias] fit really perfectly." Ondřej Macek and his Hofmusici orchestra chose Prague Castle (seat of the Czech presidency) the 16th-century Spanish, and was performed by 13 singers and 24 musicians on 3 May 2008, the first performance since 1730. The opera is...

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