Elena
Music by Francesco Cavalli · libretto by Giovanni Faustini · premiered 1659 · at Teatro San Cassiano
Elena is a 1659 dramma per musica in a prologue and three acts by Francesco Cavalli. It is set to a libretto initiated by Giovanni Faustini (who died in 1651) and completed by Nicolò Minato, and it was first performed in Venice at the Teatro San Cassiano (the dedication is 26 December 1659). Elena was revived in 1661 in Palermo but then not heard again until 2013, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Just like many other operas by Cavalli, Elena includes a ballo, or an Italian dance which incorporates singers, choristers, and instrumentalists. However, it soon began to be replaced by something analogous to the intermedio, sometimes incorporating a chorus.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Elena (Cavalli)", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading opera composer of the mid 17th-century. A central figure of Venetian musical life, Cavalli wrote more than thirty operas, almost all of which premiered in the city's theaters. His best known works include Ormindo (1644), Giasone (1649) and La Calisto (1651).
Text from the Wikipedia article "Francesco Cavalli", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.