Calto (opera)

Calto is an opera seria in 3 acts by Francesco Bianchi. The libretto was by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after the 'celtic' poetry of Ossian. The opera was first performed at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on 23 January 1788.

Calto was an innovative work with some special instrumentation. As Marita P. McClymonds explains "Bianchi uses flat keys, fluctuating modes, chromatic dissonances and an unusually wide range of wind timbres (oboe, bassoon, clarinet, horn and English horn) for maximum dramatic effect."[1]

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast, 23 January 1788
(Conductor:)
Duntalmo, usurper king tenor Giuseppe Bertelli
Corimba, Duntalmo's daughter, secretly married to Calto soprano Maria Giacinta Galli
Sinveno soprano castrato Tommaso Catena
Calto, son of the rightful king killed by Duntalmo, adopted by Sinveno soprano castrato Giovanni Rubinelli
Asteria soprano Maria Bellavigna
Conalbo tenor Antonio Mora

Synopsis

Calto claims his rightful throne from the usurper Duntalmo, but the latter is saved by Corimba, who turns out to be both Duntalmo's daughter and the mother of Calto's two children.

References

  1. McClymonds, Marita P (1992), 'Calto' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera p 692
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.