❦  The Encyclopedia of Classic Opera
Opera·Almanac
Opera in the Repertoire · Baroque

Argippo

Music by Antonio Vivaldi · libretto by Domenico Lalli · premiered 1730

Argippo is an opera libretto by Domenico Lalli, which in Giovanni Porta's setting premiered in Venice in 1717. Claudio Nicola Stampa's reworked version of the libretto was set as L'Argippo by Andrea Stefano Fiorè. This opera was performed in Milan in 1722. Antonio Vivaldi's Argippo, RV 697, based on Stampa's version of the libretto, was staged in two different versions in 1730, first in Vienna (RV 697-A), and later in Prague (RV 697-B). The music of both of these versions was lost. Until a Czech Composer named Ondřej Macek rediscovered it. The Opera was then performed in 2008 for the first time since the first half of the 18th century. Vivaldi's setting of the Argippo libretto partially survives in a pasticcio, RV Anh. 137, which, in the 21st century, was the basis for a reconstruction of the Prague version of Vivaldi's opera.

Text from the Wikipedia article "Argippo", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the Composer

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form, especially the solo concerto, into a widely accepted and followed idiom. Vivaldi composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than fifty operas. His best-known work is a series…

Text from the Wikipedia article "Antonio Vivaldi", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Read the full biography →

Other Operas by Antonio Vivaldi