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Arianna e Teseo (1764) - Pietro Pariati
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Background
After serving as secretary to Rinaldo, Duke of Modena, Pietro Pariati moved to Venice and began work as a librettist with Apostolo Zeno. While in Venice, Pariati revised well-known seventeenth century works by re-writing them in a modern style (Sidonio), or by turning them into drama musicale (Agosti’s Artaserse). He also had the opportunity to meet successful composers who were in Venice at the time, including Albinoni and Gasparini. The success of the tragicommedie and intermezzi he supplied for the San Cassiano theater solidified Pariati’s reputation within his elite Venetian circle of artists and musicians. In 1714, Charles VI invited Pariati to the Austrian court in Vienna, where he remained until 1729, when Metastasio replaced him. The output from his tenure in Vienna is impressive, and includes 13 oratorios, 15 cantatas/chamber works, and 14 theatrical works for imperial celebrations.
Pariati wrote Arianna e Teseo during his first year in Vienna. The work would eventually be set by several composers, including L. Feo, G. M. Orlandi, B. Galuppi, and Handel. Pariati’s version of the popular Greek mythological story focuses on the time the two lovers spent in Crete. The libretto of Pariati features new characters, including the lovers Alcestes and Carilda, and new subplots. The work ends with Teseo’s victory over the Minotaur, and his reconciliation with Arianna. Guiseppe Pasqua, an Italian composer who worked for the Polish archbishop Gabriel Podoski, set the work in 1764 for the Turin carnival season.
Bibliography
Title from title page: ARIANNA / E / TESEO / DRAMMA PER MUSICA
Genre: dramma per musica
Composer: Giuseppe Pasqua
Librettist: Pietro Pariati, 1665-1733
Libretto based on: Classic story of Ariadne and events on Crete
Setting: Crete
Premiere: 1714
Volume in the UNT Collection: Torino, Presso G. Bayno, stampatore [1764?]
For further reading on Pariati, see:
Campanini, Naborre. Un precursore del Metastasio [Pietro Pariati]. Firenze: G.C. Sansoni, 1904.
Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale Della Musica e Dei Musicisti. Ed. Alberto Basso. Torino: Unione Tipografico, 1988. “Pariati, Pietro,” pp. 574-74, and “Pasqua, Guiseppe,” p. 591.
Gronda, Giovanna. La carriera di un librettista : Pietro Pariati da Reggio di Lombardia. Bologna : Mulino, 1990.
______________. “Pariati, Pietro.” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. [Accessed 18 April 2006]. <<http://www.grovemusic.com>
Rice, John A. “Ariadne.” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. [Accessed 20 April 2006]. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
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.