DESCRIPTION:
Dramma per musica in three acts on a libretto by Giovanni de Gamerra
Milan, Teatro alla Scala - Opera and ballet season 2014-2015
Conductor: Marc Minkowski
Stage director: Marshall Pynkoski
Chorus and Ballet Company of the Teatro alla Scala

CAST
Lucio Silla KREŠIMIR ŠPICER (replacing Rolando Villazón)
Giunia LENNEKE RUITEN
Cecilio MARIANNE CREBASSA
Lucio Cinna INGA KALNA
Celia GIULIA SEMENZATO
In this edition, the parts featuring the character of Aufidio are not sung.
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO AUFIDIO? The minor character of the tribune Aufidio, Silla’s bloodthirsty friend, manipulative and sinister, a one-aria tenor role, has been cut (without excessive damage to the plot, but to the regret of purists). In this, Marc Minkowski has followed the lead of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who already in 1989 considerably cut portions of the libretto (and so both trimmed some recitativi and omitted the pathetic Giunia’s aria ‘Parto, m’affretto’ - II act, to further regret of the usual purists).
WHICH ONE DOESN’T BELONG? Besides the anachronistic funny hint of the Mendelssohn’s Wedding March (2:13:08), the “intruder” is Silla’s last aria, «Se al generoso ardire» (2:38:07), which Minkowski, in order to balance the predominance of female voices, augmented by the removal of the sidekick tenor, has borrowed from Johann Christian Bach’s setting of the same libretto, of three years later (1775).
WHY DID MOZART NOT SET TO MUSIC THIS ARIA? It was normal that overture, recitativi, chorus pieces were composed first, whereas the arias only in the presence of the singers, tailor-made on their abilities. But the sixteen-year-old Wolfgang was left very little time to accomplish this opera (Giovanni de Gamerra had sent his libretto to the poet Metastasio for approval and he had returned it with substantial alterations). And not only did singers arrive late, a little at a time, but the singer cast for the role of Lucio fell ill and had to be replaced at the last minute, only nine days before the premiere. The “emergency substitute” (an inexperienced “church cantor from Lodi”) was much weaker, and Mozart set to music only two Silla’s arias instead of the four originally planned, and with no virtuoso passages.
Minkowski’s decision of inserting an additional aria, drawn, as has been said, from Bach’s Lucio Silla, will appear less bold if considered not only in terms of stylistic congruity, but also with regard to Mozart’s close relationship with its author, Johann Christian Bach (1735-82), (the youngest son of Johann Sebastian), one of the most respected musicians of his time, for whom Mozart had a lifelong admiration. (The two met when Mozart aged 8 and, as a child musical prodigy, was performing at the English court, while J. C. Bach was already 30-year-old and at the height of his fame.)
So, what would Mozart say about this? Let’s reply with his own words: “ You can easily imagine his delight and mine at meeting again... I love him (as you know) and respect him with all my heart;” (Letters, 27 August 1778)


0:09:19 I act
0:10:54 'Vieni, ov'amor t'invita' (Cinna)
0:22:26 ‘Il tenero momento’ (Cecilio)
0:34:09 'Se lusinghiera speme' (Celia)
0:42:47 'Dalla sponda tenebrosa' (Giunia)
0:50:44 'Il desio di vendetta' (Silla)
0:59:44 'Fuor di queste urne' (Giunia, Coro)
1:09:05 'D'elisio in sen m'attendi' (Giunia, Cecilio)
1:16:15 II act
1:22:15 'Quest'improvviso trèmito' (Cecilio)
1:27:33 'Ah se il crudel periglio' (Giunia)
1:37:55 'Nel fortunato instante' (Cinna)
1:43:53 ‘D'ogni pietà mi spoglio' (Silla)
1:48:08 ‘Ah se a morir mi chiama’ (Cecilio)
1:57:32 'Quando sugl'arsi campi' (Celia)
2:04:22 'Se gloria il crin ti cinse' (Coro)
2:08:19 ‘Quell'oroglioso sdegno' (Silla, Giunia, Cecilio)
2:11:45 III act
2:13:16 'Strider senta la procella' (Celia)
2:18:06 'De' più suberbi il core' (Cinna)
2:24:38 ‘Pupille amate' (Cecilio)
2:32:41 'Fra i pensier più funesti' (Giunia)
2:38:07 ‘Se al generoso ardire’ (Silla), by J. C. Bach
2:51:20 Finale (Silla, Giunia, Cecilio, Cinna, Celia, Coro)

The stand-out in the cast is indisputably the young French mezzo Marianne Crebassa/Cecilio.