Mosè in Egitto (título original en italiano; en español, Moisés en Egipto) es una ópera en tres actos con música de Gioacchino Rossini y libreto en italiano de Andrea Leone Tottola, basado en una obra de Francesco Ringhieri, L'Osiride, de 1760.
Se estrenó el 5 de marzo de 1818 en el recientemente reconstruido Teatro San Carlo, Nápoles. Considerada como una azione tragico-sacra, el drama sagrado con algunos rasgos del oratorio permitió eludir proscripciones de interpretaciones dramáticas seculares durante la Cuaresma. Rossini revisó la ópera para Nápoles en 1819, cuando introdujo el aria de oración de Moisés '"Dal tuo stellato soglio", que se convirtió en una de las piezas de ópera más populares de la época, inspiró una serie de variaciones para violín y piano a Niccolò Paganini, y sobrevive en forma de concierto. Rossini amplió la obra en 1827, esta vez con un libreto en francés. Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge (Moisés y el Faraón, o El cruce del Mar Rojo) es en cuatro actos, con un ballet. Se estrenó en París el 26 de marzo.
Esta ópera rara vez se representa en la actualidad; en las estadísticas de Operabase aparece con sólo 5 representaciones en el período 2005-2010. La versión Moïse et Pharaon aparece con 2 representaciones en el mismo período.
Argumento
La trama transcurre en el Egipto de alrededor del año 1230 a. C.2 La ópera se basó vagamente en el Éxodo de Egipto de los israelitas, liderados por Moisés, hecho más atractivo para la ópera a través de la introducción de un tema amoroso, en el que el hijo del faraón, Amenofis (tenor) planea impedir su marcha, puesto que ama a la israelita Anaïs (soprano). La ópera se abre con una escena oscura, al tiempo que la plaga de las tinieblas es disuelta por la oración de Moisés, y acaba con el espectáculo del Mar Rojo abriéndose y el ahogamiento de las huestes del Faraón, que "provocó aullidos de burla"3 por la torpe maquinaria de su puesta en escena en el estreno, aunque la ópera superó sus fallos técnicos y fue un éxito.
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Mosè in Egitto (Moses in Egypt) is a three-act opera written by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on a 1760 play by Francesco Ringhieri, L'Osiride. It premièred on 5 March 1818 at the recently reconstructed Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy.
In 1827 Rossini revised the work with a new title: Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge (Moses and Pharaoh, or The Crossing of the Red Sea) It was set to a four-act libretto written in French by Luigi Balocchi and Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy and the première was given by the Paris Opera at the Salle Le Peletier on 26 March the same year.
Riccardo Muti and many scholars consider Moïse et Pharaon, along with Guillaume Tell, to be among Rossini's greatest achievements:
I prefer it because Rossini himself preferred it. Don't get me wrong. Mosè in Egitto is a wonderful opera, but it remains very much a mere sketch for Moïse et Pharaon. And it's not just me who says that, but the great Rossini himself. (Muti)
Composition history
The opera was loosely based on the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites, led by Moses, rendered agreeable to the opera stage by introducing a love theme, in which the Pharaoh's son Amenophis plans to prevent their departure, since he loves the Israelite Anaïs.
The 1818 opera opens as the plague of darkness is dispelled by Moses' prayer, and it ends with the spectacle of the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's host, which "elicited howls of derision"[3] at the clumsy machinery of its staging at the premiere, though the opera surmounted its technical failings and was a hit. Billed in 1818 as an azione tragico-sacra, the sacred drama with some features of the oratorio circumvented proscriptions of secular dramatic performances during Lent.
Rossini slightly revised the opera in 1819, when he introduced Moses' prayer-aria "Dal tuo stellato soglio", which became one of the most popular opera pieces of the day and which inspired a set of variations for violin and piano by Niccolò Paganini. Both survive in concert performance.
French version
The greatly enlarged work set to a French libretto was composed with so much additional music, including a substantial ballet, as to warrant a new title, Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge (Moses and Pharaoh, or The Crossing of the Red Sea) ̃ and was seen to be a separate and new opera alongside its Naples progenitor.
Performance history
Paris audiences had already seen Mosè in Egitto — both in a performance by the Paris Opéra at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique and at the Théâtre des Italiens — before Rossini revised it again, this time markedly, for the Paris Opéra.
Now in French in four acts, with a ballet, it premiered on 26 March 1827 under the title Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le Passage de la Mer Rouge. The first libretto from Naples was translated and augmented by Luigi Balocchi and Victor Joseph Etienne de Jouy, who would later co-write the libretto for Rossini's final opera Guillaume Tell. As is noted on Expatia, "this second version proved such a runaway box-office success that it was performed no less than 100 times between its premiere in 1827 and 1838".[
20th century and beyond
The Rossini Opera Festival, in Rossini's home town of Pesaro, has presented the opera periodically since 1980, beginning with a 1983 production by Pier Luigi Pizzi and revived in 1985. It did not re-appear until 2011 when it was seen in a production by Graham Vick.
It has been suggested in the magazine, Opera, that Mosè had "remained virtually unheard in Britain since a concert in 1822", until a production was staged by Welsh National Opera in the 1964/5 season in Cardiff, Llandudno and London. London's Royal Opera House gave it in May/June 1994.
Welsh National Opera staged it again in autumn 2014 in Cardiff and on tour. Opinions were mixed.
In the US, Mosè in Egitto had not been heard in Chicago since 1865, but it was presented in that city by Chicago Opera Theater in 2010[11] and given by New York City Opera in April 2013.
As Moise et Pharaon it was given at La Scala in 2003, and again as part of the 2009 Salzburg Festival under Muti.
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Es una ópera genial que merecería una presencia mucho mayor en el repertorio. La versión de Muti en Salzburgo (versión francesa) es fabulosa
Estrenada en Nápoles, el 5 de marzo de 1818.
Rossini nació el 1 de Marzo de 1792 ( 29 de febrero) y murió el el 13 de noviembre de 1868.
