FEDELTA - Programmbuch der Bayerischen Staatsoper
Client: Bayerische Staatsoper
Format: Program Book
Joseph Haydn ✀
After Giovanni Battista Lorenzi
Dramma pastorale giocoso in three acts
A production by the Opera Studio
True love can be a death sentence in Cuma: every year the goddess Diana demands the sacrifice of two true lovers, who are thrown into the water to be devoured by the sea monster. Only a volunteer, who is prepared to sacrifice himself for the couple can lift this curse. So far, however, nobody has applied, and so the tenth couple is about to be selected. But fidelity is a rare commodity in Cuma, which makes it all the harder to find anyone to sacrifice: in fear of being singled out as lovers of the year, the protagonists fake their feelings, avoid committing to serious relationships and spread disappointment all around…
Franz Joseph Haydn was clearly aware what a masterwork he had created with his jolly shepherd’s play La fedeltà premiata (Fidelity Rewarded): “I guarantee that such a work has never been heard in Paris, let alone in Vienna,” he said in a letter to his Viennese publisher. La fedeltà premiata, in which serious and comical elements are magnificently intertwined, was, like most of Haydn’s operas, written on commission by his long-term employers, the Princely House of Eszterházy. It was premièred on February 25, 1781 for the rededication of the opera house in Eszterháza, which had been reconstructed after a fire. The opera was performed 36 times there making it one of his most successful works.
Exciting new productions, internationally acclaimed stars and an impressive repertoire: these are the solid pillars supporting the Bavarian State Opera – one of the world’s leading opera houses, which can proudly l✋✋k back on a history of over 350 years. With more than 300 performances each year, it makes a major contribution to Munich’s reputation as a cultural metropolis. During one season, over 30 operas from five centuries are performed, making the programme one of the most richly varied performance schedules of all international opera houses. ✐