Catone in Utica - CD

ENGLISH

Naive's Vivaldi Edition is proud to bring out yet another of the unknown operas by Antonio Vivaldi. Conducted by one of the masters of baroque opera, Alan Curtis, and gathering an impressive vocal cast (Topi Lehtipuu, Roberta Mameli, Ann Hallenberg, Sonia Prina), Catone in utica marks the 15th opera in the series and is one of the Venitian master's great, late operas, composed four years<br /> before his death.<br /> <br /> With the premiere of Catone in Utica (set on a libretto by renowned Metastasio) at Verona in the spring of 1737, Antonio Vivaldi, the celebrated Maestro del Pio Ospedale della Città di Venezia, began his third and last opera season. The Prete Rosso's farewell to the Teatro dell'Accademia Filarmonica was to resemble the crowning piece of a fireworks display. After the success of La fida ninfa (1732) and of Bajazet and Adelaide (1735), the brief but fruitful idyll between the Venetian composer and the prestigious Veronese theatre ended on a note of genuine triumph.<br /> <br /> The autograph score of Catone in Utica, today conserved in volume 38 of the Foà Collection in the Biblioteca Nationale in Turin, contains only Acts II and III of the opera. In all probability, the loss of the first act occurred at some stage during the eventful history of Vivaldi's collection, which was constantly moved from place to place between 1741 and its rediscovery in 1926, unless it is imputable<br /> to one of his copyists, who might have mislaid the original that had been entrusted to him.<br /> <br /> The two surviving acts demonstrate how carefully the composer-impresario had planned his final production for Verona. The eleven arias and the coro are products of his high maturity, very finely worked, in which he continues his brilliant and unique endeavour to combine his musical language with that of the Neapolitan composers.