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Catone in Utica (1763?) - Pietro Metastasio
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Background
Pietro Metastasio’s Catone in Utica, his third original work, was written early in his career as a librettist. Leonardo Vinci was the first composer to set the work, which received its premiere in Rome in 1728. The performance was the third successful premiere for Metastasio; his previous two works were well received in Naples and Venice.
Metastasio’s Italian audiences favored libretti which were in line with the literary reforms led by the Arcadian Academy of Rome (1690). Maria McClymonds writes, “Poets were expected to portray what, according to an orderly moral system, should have happened rather than what actually did happen. Death, if unavoidable, should be handled with dignity, and preferably off stage.”[1] With Didone abbandonata, Metastasio boldly allowed Dido to perish amongst the flames in the finale. Surprisingly, his audience at Naples accepted this unusual handling of death within an opera. However, with Catone in Utica, Metastasio’s Roman audience disapproved of Cato’s stabbing death, which was extended throughout two ending scenes. Metastasio, ever concerned with the opinions of his audiences, created a revised third act ending. The revision eliminates Cato’s stabbing scene, and instead, the suicide takes place off stage, and is later reported by another character. Of the twenty seven composers who set Catone, most preferred using the revised ending.
Scholars believe Gian Francesco de Majo set the work in 1763 for the Turin carnival season. He, too, used the revised ending.
[1] Marita McClymonds, “Opera Seria,” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy, [accessed 6 April 2006] <http://www.grovemusic.com>.
Bibliography
Title from title page: CATONE / IN UTICA / DRAMMA PER MUSICA
Genre: dramma per musica
Composer: Gian Francesco de Majo, 1732-1770
Librettist: Pietro Metastasio, 1698-1782
Libretto based on: Classic story of Cato and Caesar
Setting: Utica
Premiere: 1728
Volume in the UNT Collection: In Torino : Presso Gaspare Bayno Stampatore, [1763?]
For further reading on Metastasio and Catone in Utica, see:
Burney, Charles. Memoirs of the life and writings of the Abate Metastasio, including translations of his principal letters. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.
McClymonds, Marita. “Opera Seria.” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. [Accessed 6 April 2006]. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Neville, Don. “Catone in Utica.” Grove Music Onlin, ed. Laura Macy. [Accessed 7 April 2006]. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Nicastro, Guido. "Metastasio e il teatro del primo settecento." Letteratura Italiana Laterza 33. Bari: Laterza, 1973.
Strohm, Reinhard. “Dramatic dualities: Metastasio and the tradition of the opera pair.” Early Music 26 (1998): 551-62.
Physical
Conservation: Heavy staining; frass; bleed-through; cockling; bent corners.
Binding: Extremely fragile tan paper; very frayed edges; heavy staining on front and back covers; loose binding; some torn pages have been repaired with tape.
Comments: Contains UNT ownership stamps and Hibberd stamps. The final blank page has been cut out.