Tommaso Traetta: “Ifigenia in Tauride” (opera in 3 acts)
Libretto: Marco Coltellini
First performance: Vienna, 1763

Performed in German and Italian with German and English surtitles

Together with Niccolò Jommelli, Tommaso Traetta is considered one of the most important representatives of the late Neapolitan School. Although he was one of the most renowned opera composers of his time when he died in 1779, his oeuvre has largely been forgotten today. Yet he was just as important for the reform efforts of the 1760s and 70s as Christoph Willibald Gluck, whose stage-dramatic work is now associated with the transition from opera seria to musical drama. Just one year after Gluck premiered his first reform opera, “Orfeo ed Euridice”, Traetta presented his “Ifigenia in Tauride”, composed to a libretto by Marco Coltellini, in the theater of the imperial summer residence Schönbrunn on 4 October 1763. It is a work that enjoyed great popularity at the end of the 18th century.

Tommaso Traetta's music for “Ifigenia in Tauride” is of particular quality and ranges from Pilade's brilliant opening aria “Stelle irate, il caro amico” to Ifigenia's cantabile “So, che pietà de' miseri”, in which a certain elegant cheerfulness is even allowed to resonate. Elements of French music theater - one of the characteristics of the aforementioned opera reform - can be found in the opera. For example, Oreste's sleeping scene in which he is tormented by the Furies (“Dormi, Oreste”) and the pronounced presence of the chorus in various forms. Nevertheless, “Ifigenia in Tauride” also has much in common with the tradition of Italian opera seria: for example, there are several revenge arias or “arie di furia” and a final duet, which is typically reserved for the main couple of lovers (“Il mio destin non piangere”). Here, however, this is performed by Ifigenia and Dori - in the absence of an equal.

Christophe Rousset and his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, who since their complete recording of Traetta's “Antigona” (L'Oiseau-Lyre, 2000) have been regarded as advocates of this great composer, who is definitely worth rediscovering, could be won over for the musical realization of the second part of our opera sequel. The Spanish soprano Rocío Pérez, who recently appeared with Rousset's “lyrical talents” in Cimarosa's “L'Olimpiade” at the Theater an der Wien, takes on the role of Ifigenia. The British countertenor Owen Willetts plays Oreste, while the dark figure of Toante is embodied by the Australian tenor Alasdair Kent. They are joined by sopranos Karolina Bengtsson as Dori and Suzanne Jerosme (most recently at the 2023 Festwochen in Traetta's “Oratorio Rex Salomon ”) as her lover Pilade. The production will be staged by the much sought-after German director Nicola Raab.