The Research Question
If the protagonist is generally considered ‘the chief character in a dramatic work’ and the antagonist ‘the main character opposing the protagonist in a drama or other narrative’,Footnote 1 who, one may ask, is the protagonist in Metastasio's Alessandro nell’Indie? The question is not trivial, because the same libretto was set to music as Poro – by Porpora (Turin, 1731), Handel (London, 1731)Footnote 2 and Gluck (Turin, 1744) – and as Cleofide – by Hasse (Dresden, 1731) and Agricola (Berlin, 1754). Metastasio declared in the argomento that the principal action in the drama was ‘la nota generosità [di] Alessandro il Grande’ (the famed generosity of Alexander the Great), thereby emphasizing that, in his conception of the plot, Alessandro was the protagonist.Footnote 3 However, the distribution of arias reveals that the key musical roles are Poro as primo uomo and Cleofide as prima donna. Therefore, the primo uomo is not the protagonist, but the antagonist in the plot, an apparent contradiction revealing how Metastasio wrote his dramas within a conventional system that in fact implied a twofold dramaturgy. Although this duality is conspicuous in Alessandro, it can also be traced in many of his other plays, as will be demonstrated in this article by exploring the constellations of characters in Metastasio's dramas and examining their status, kinship and emotional ties within the constrictions of the operatic business, as defined by what are known as the convenienze teatrali.
Introduction
Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782) dominated Italian opera during the central part of the eighteenth century. Gloria Staffieri states that his operas reigned supreme in European theatres, without any rivals, between the 1730s and 1780s, leading to the ‘golden age of opera seria’,Footnote 4 while other scholars write generically of ‘The Age of Metastasio’ (Piero Weiss) or ‘Metastasian opera’ (Gilles de Van), or take Metastasio directly as the epitome of ‘Eighteenth-Century Heroic Opera’ (Francesco Cotticelli and Pierpaolo Maione).Footnote 5 His twenty-six operatic dramas were set to music over one thousand times by no fewer than four hundred composers in virtually every European country (with the exception of France, where the Italian dramma per musica never took hold).Footnote 6 His pre-eminence reached a peak in the 1750s, when over thirty per cent of the Italian operas premiered in Europe were based on his librettos.Footnote 7 Thus Metastasio's dramas can truly be regarded as the typical model for the dramma per musica.Footnote 8
In one of the most lucid insights into operatic dramaturgy, Gilles de Van compared Metastasio's plotsFootnote 9 to ‘le jeu du billard, où une boule pousse une deuxième qui en déplace une troisième; les actions se contrecarrent déterminant des renversements d'affetti et des péripéties’ (the game of billiards, where one ball pushes a second, which displaces a third; the actions thwart each other, determining reversals of affetti and peripeteias).Footnote 10 As all of Metastasio's dramas consistently start in medias res, their point of departure is always a particular disposition of the characters and their circumstances, which we call the constellation of characters, equivalent to a specific distribution of balls in a billiard pool after the game has already started. This was perceived by Charles des Brosses when, following a journey to Italy that took place in 1739–1740, he wrote about Metastasio as follows:
Jamais aucun poète ne l'a égalé dans l'art de l'exposition du sujet. Cet article, qui met à la torture tous nos poètes du second rang, et où les premiers maîtres ont échoué plus d'une fois, ne donne aucune peine à Métastase; car il réussit toujours. Je ne sais comment diable il vient à bout de manier sa protase de telle manière que, presque sans aucun récit, le spectateur se trouve au fait de tout ce qu'il doit savoir pour l'intelligence de la pièce.Footnote 11
No poet has ever equalled him in the art of exposition of the subject. This issue, which tortures all our second-rank poets, and in which the first masters have failed more than once, gives no trouble to Metastasio, because he always succeeds. I don't know how the hell he manages to handle his protasis in such a way that, almost without any story, the spectator finds himself aware of everything he needs to know for the understanding of the play.
‘Comment diable’ – ‘How the hell’, if we may use des Brosses's expression – did Metastasio manage to be so effective in the protasis of his dramas?Footnote 12 Ranieri Calzabigi was the first to realize that the secret of Metastasio's dramaturgy lay in his ability to create unique characters. Following Horace's Ars Poetica, Calzabigi highlights the importance of each character's nature (‘il costume’).Footnote 13 He draws a distinction between ‘costume generale’ and ‘costume particolare’, the former related to general characteristics of newly invented characters, such as nationality, age, gender or other peculiar circumstances, and the latter to a specific idiosyncrasy of a particular historical or literary figure whose vices and virtues are familiar to all. It is also possible to combine both ‘costume generale’ and ‘costume particolare’ for a historical character about whose personality little or nothing is known.Footnote 14
For example, the whole drama of Achille in Sciro is built on the particular nature of the hero, his bellicosity and thirst for glory, which can be neither concealed under female clothes nor constrained by his most intense love for Deidamia.Footnote 15 On the contrary, Arbace, the leading role in Artaserse, is a newly invented character. Beyond the ‘costume generale’ adequate for a young Persian aristocrat, Metastasio freely delineates Arbace's personality as the most honest and virtuous of all men, in direct contrast to Arbace's own father, Artabano, a historical figure whose particular nature is ‘scellerato costume, ardito, impudente, insidiatore, crudele’ (wicked, daring, shameless, sneaky, cruel), as described by Calzabigi.Footnote 16
The definition of characters in musical dramaturgy has been pivotal to modern musicology. Costantino Maeder claims that ‘la caratterizzazione di un personaggio, che in un romanzo può essere costruita lentamente, nell'opera può essere risolta con una sola aria’ (the portrayal of a character, which in a novel can be built slowly, can be achieved in an opera with just one aria).Footnote 17 According to Carl Dahlhaus, ‘the basis of every opera is a given configuration of characters, and the action is the outcome of that configuration’.Footnote 18 Lorenzo Bianconi delves further into this idea:
La costellazione dei personaggi costituisce un insieme al tempo stesso stabile e mobile. Un insieme stabile, in quanto comporta un numero determinato di componenti – gl'interlocutori, appunto – legati fin dapprincipio da rapporti di attrazione o repulsione, di affinità o rivalità che possono degenerare in conflitto o volgersi in complicità . . . Un insieme mobile, in quanto le relazioni tra i personaggi non sono statiche ma evolvono e mutano nel corso del dramma.Footnote 19
The constellation of the characters constitutes a whole that is both stable and mobile. A stable whole, as it involves a determined number of components – the interlocutors, in fact – linked from the beginning by relationships of attraction or repulsion, affinity or rivalry that can degenerate into conflict or turn into complicity . . . A mobile whole, as the relationships between the characters are not static but evolve and change over the course of the drama.
In this article, through a comparative approach considering several of his dramas, we explore how the action in Metastasio's plots is grounded on the initial constellations of characters within the framework of operatic convention, which requires discriminating among three different dimensions: (1) the characteristics of all roles in terms of social status, kinship and emotional ties, (2) the hierarchy of the singers (convenienze teatrali) and (3) the dramatic function of each role in the plot. We demonstrate that Metastasio's dramaturgy is a compromise between two different and parallel systems, one defined by the requirements of opera production and the other by purely dramatic rules.
Metastasio's Characters
In one of the most compelling analyses of a Metastasian drama to date, Martha Feldman describes the constellation of characters in Artaserse as depicting the interaction between two patriarchal groups, the Royal Triangle – King Serse and his offspring, Artaserse and Mandane – and the Heroic Triangle – Serse's advisor, Artabano, and his progeny, Arbace and Semira.Footnote 20 The members of the two triangles are united by love interest (Mandane and Arbace, Artaserse and Semira), by deep friendship (Artaserse and Arbace) and by hierarchical dependence (Artabano to Serse, the attendant Megabise to Artabano). The action begins with Arbace's annoyance that Serse does not allow him to marry Princess Mandane, yet the real trigger of the plot is Artabano killing Serse off stage. The principal action of the drama, as explained by Metastasio in the argomento, is the discovery of the treason committed by Artabano and the confirmation of Artaserse as the legitimate heir and king. However, in the meantime, Arbace is accused of the crime, setting in motion a cascade of reactions, with the other characters experiencing an intense emotional and moral response based on their ties with the victim of the crime, Serse, and with the presumptive murderer, Arbace. One single action prompts a succession of responses, as in the game of billiards.
Feldman's analysis identifies three important features that define the constellation of characters in this drama: status, kinship and emotional ties. The characters are divided by social status into three categories: those of the highest social and political rank, usually of royal blood (the Royal Level), members of the nobility (the Heroic Level) and other characters of lower status, usually military officers or confidants and, rarely, servants (the Subheroic Level). Kinship defines permanent ties among characters; it could be in the form of parenthood, siblinghood or, less frequently, marriage,Footnote 21 and it further defines hierarchies within each status level, since any patriarchal figure is always ranked above his offspring. The emotional connections can be positive, such as the erotic love between Arbace and Mandane or the friendship between Arbace and Artaserse, or negative, such as Artabano's animosity towards the royal family, even towards his own son, Arbace, whom he accuses of the regicide.
This analysis of Artaserse has become a reference point, to the extent that this drama is currently perceived as the paradigm of opera seria.Footnote 22 However, a detailed scrutiny of Metastasio's librettos reveals that its constellation of characters is by no means archetypal; rather, it is just one of many different solutions among a wide variety of typologies and relationships within the constraints of operatic conventions. Tables 1 and 2 will help us to follow the complex web of characters in Metastasio's dramas and the consequent arguments.
List of drammi per musica written by Pietro Metastasio, with some analytical data
All data refer to the first musical version. City = city of premiere; Mutaz. = number of mutazioni (scene complexes); Char. = number of characters; Kinship = number of kin relationships among characters; Love relations = number of love relationships among characters.
List of all the dramas written by Pietro Metastasio with their characters and all relevant data as given in the libretto of their first performance (princeps edition)
The numbers in parenthesis after each character name represent the total number of arias, while the columns after every name represent the number of arias assigned in each act as well as the ensembles in which they participate, indicating whether any of these is located at the end of an act or a scene setting. Every character is assigned to the most common standard role-type as described by Goldoni, based not on the premiere version but on the long run of the opera, as explained in the section ‘Convenienze Teatrali’. Characters with double names are disguised during part of the action; characters in boldface are title roles; characters in italics are travesty roles. Abbreviations: Y = year of premiere; 1 = Act 1; 2 = Act 2; 3 = Act 3; E = ensembles; • = aria or ensemble at the end of a scene setting; + = aria or ensemble at the end of an act; d = duet; t = trio; = q = quartet; s = sextet; sc = soloist with chorus; † = dying character.
Status
All dramas by Metastasio revolve around the emotions of a group of characters who belong to the social elite of a remote territory, either geographically (India, Persia, Carthage and China, among others) or chronologically (Ancient Rome), or both. Within this elite, status is defined by birth, with the monarch(s) – or any other ruler – at the apex of a series of strata that includes princes, aristocrats, confidants, servants and others. Even within these strata, subtle differences exist. Several layers can be identified within the Royal Level, for instance, not only between a king or queen, a crown prince and other princes of royal blood, but also between monarchs of different kingdoms, or visiting and local monarchs. Similar distinctions can be made at the Heroic Level comprising aristocrats or grandees, including not only their parents and descendants but also local and foreign patricians.Footnote 23 Such distinctions are subtler and more difficult to decipher at the Subheroic Level, as this can include military officers, ministers, ambassadors, confidants or servants. A final, peculiar category is that of Arcadian shepherds and shepherdesses, theoretically at the very bottom of the social scale, but who on most occasions are members of the elite in disguise, either consciously or unconsciously.Footnote 24
Status is a key feature that defines the nature and behaviour of operatic personages. Characters who belong to the Royal Level are often associated not only with positive attitudes such as generosity and nobility, but also with negative ones such as arrogance and irresolution. The best example is Didone's response to Iarba's request asking for her hand in marriage in Didone abbandonata: her aria ‘Son regina e sono amante’ (Act 1 Scene 5) is an expression of boldness and pride, traits of a monarch who does not wish to be ruled by anyone. Similarly, deposed monarchs such as Poro (Alessandro nell'Indie) or Osroa (Adriano in Siria) are incapable of accepting subjection to their vanquishers and hence continue to seek revenge, even at the risk of losing their lives. This holds true even for the daughter of a deposed emperor, as is the case with Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), whose resentment towards Tito is founded on the conviction that he is a usurper who can rule legitimately only by marrying her, the daughter of the rightful but dethroned monarch Vitellio. Creusa's wicked attitude towards Timagene and Cherinto during the major part of the story of Demofoonte originates from her belief that as a royal bride she can marry only a crown prince. On the positive side, the royal status of some characters is revealed in their manners, even when their true identity is unknown to all or most of the others. This is the case with Nitteti, supposedly the shepherdess Beroe, whose royal descent is hinted at by her noble attitude and demeanour, as well as with Aminta in Il re pastore, who, although disguised as a shepherd, is in fact the legitimate heir of Sidon.
Members of lower levels are often characterized by the respect they show towards their superiors, yet negative examples reveal resentment and even treasonous feelings, usually justified by some past events of the antefatti (the prehistory of the plot), as can be seen in Artabano's attitude towards Serse and his family (Serse does not allow his daughter Mandane to marry Arbace, son of Artabano, because of his lower status), Matusio's attitude towards Demofoonte (the latter had prevented his own daughters from being included in the lot for a sacrifice to Apollo at the expense of Matusios's daughter) or Timagene's resentment towards Alessandro (the Macedonian monarch had killed his father).
The fear of losing status also conditions the behaviour of many characters. Both Clistene and Astiage, ruling monarchs in Olimpiade and Ciro riconosciuto, had in the past ordered the execution of their offspring, Filinto and Ciro respectively. However, both children were spared by the officers who had been ordered to execute them. The same is the case with Cosroe, who orders the execution of his eldest son, Siroe, although the latter was secretly saved by Arasse.
All but two Metastasian dramas feature at least one monarch, the exception being the republican stories Catone in Utica and Attilio Regolo, whose eponymous roles nevertheless perform a function in the drama equivalent to that of a royal figure, as they represent the highest rank within the constellation. In the remaining plays, the royal figure is not straightforward, as three operas – Didone, Alessandro and Achille Footnote 25 – feature three monarchs (see Figure 1), while another four works – Demetrio, Adriano, Ciro and Nitteti – feature two. In most of these cases, there exists one figure whose status is higher than that of the others, usually a civilized conqueror from the west, such as Alessandro over Poro and Cleofide,Footnote 26 Adriano over Osroa, or a local monarch above the others, as is the case with Licomede in the island of Sciros in Achille. This is an important point, because the existence of more than one monarch in a drama usually provides opportunities for confrontation, since Metastasian monarchs are characterized by their absolute power, often driven by pride or arrogance. This makes the violent disputes between Enea or Didone and Iarba, Alessandro and Poro – even between Poro and Cleofide – or Adriano and Osroa more verisimilar.
Constellation of characters in Alessandro nell'Indie
Note: In Figures 1–3, members of royal status are represented by round shapes, with the monarch in a dotted ellipse; members of the Heroic level have square shapes, while those of the Subheroic level are represented by diamond shapes. The cloud shape is used in Figures 2a and 2b for Olinto, a character who does not sing. Parenthood is indicated by a solid line of decreasing thickness, and the relationship between siblings by a continuous solid line (lighter grey indicates supposed kinship owing to concealed identity). Marriage is represented by a thick line with white spaces and arrows at both ends. Romantic attraction is indicated by a dotted line and an arrow, with a white arrowhead when it is unrequited. Friendship is indicated with a dotted line with no arrows. Hierarchical dependence is represented by a dotted line ending in a diamond. Emotional opposition is presented with a cross in both ends of the connecting line. Names underlined indicate characters with concealed identity.
Kinship
Kinship is another critical means of defining Metastasio's constellations, mostly through consanguinity and occasionally by affinal (in-law) kinship. These kinds of relationships have an enormous and varied dramatic potential, which is not always a straightforward matter. Besides filial love between relatives and respect towards the patriarchal figure, consanguinity is also the source of specific rights that can condition – often negatively – the attitude of some characters. Furthermore, concealment of identity is always linked to kinship, as it frequently resolves the principal action through anagnorisis (unveiling of the true identity of a character, also known as agnition).Footnote 27 The best example is Demofoonte, the only drama presenting two family triangles, whose conflicts are resolved through a double agnition (see Figure 2a and 2b).Footnote 28 Initially, Demofoonte is believed to be the father of Timante and Cherinto, but he turns out in fact to be Dircea's – and not Timante's – father. Furthermore, the latter, Dircea and Timante, are secretly married and have a little son called Olinto. The first agnition in the third act results in the deepest terror when Timante believes that he has married his own sister, Dircea, and fathered his own nephew. This terrible conflict is resolved only by a second agnition, when Timante is discovered to be the son of Matusio, and Dircea the daughter of Demofoonte.Footnote 29 Sometimes, when siblings are unaware of their relationship (owing to disguise, supposed death or secret exchange in the cradle), kinship results in attraction between them. Thus fraternal love is perceived as erotic appeal, as is the case with the concealed Licida towards his real but unknown sister Aristea in Olimpiade and the false Nitteti (Amestri) towards her unknown brother Sammete.
Constellation of characters in Demofoonte before the anagnorisis
Constellation of characters in Demofoonte after the anagnorisis
Single patriarchal triangles are found in another six dramas, Siroe, Olimpiade, Ciro, Temistocle, Antigono and Nitteti. However, they do not necessarily lead to the same kind of ties between their members. Further, rivalry among relatives is common, providing additional intensity to the conflicts. This can be either between siblings, as in the case of Siroe and Medarse competing for the throne of Persia, or between father and son: Cosroe competes with Siroe because he has chosen his second son, Medarse, as heir; Artabano unjustly accuses his own son, Arbace, of assassination; and Demofoonte condemns to death his supposed son, Timante, and his real (though unknown) daughter, Dircea.
Kinship appears to be less significant in most of the remaining dramas. In two of them there are no kin at all – Il re pastore and Ruggiero – while in thirteen of them, one single case of kinship can be noted, which often has little relevance to the plot. This is the case with the sisters Selene and Didone or the siblings Semiramide and Mirteo, Poro and Erissena (in Alessandro), or Sesto and Servilia (in La clemenza di Tito). The single case of a father and son proves to be a rare option – Fenicio and Olinto in Demetrio – compared to the more common combination of father and daughter, found in another six operas. There are just three dramas that present two cases of kinship, usually between members of different families, while another three present three generations in the same constellation: Radamisto–Zenobia–Egle, Demofoonte–Dircea–Olinto and Astiage–Mandane–Ciro.
This survey has highlighted the wide array of kinship types introduced by Metastasio in his constant search for variety in his dramas, confirming that the example of Artaserse is by no means an archetype, but, rather, one among many possible combinations created by the poeta cesareo.
Emotion
Most characters in Metastasio's constellations are connected through some sort of emotional tie.Footnote 30 Though certain emotions derive directly from status or kinship, erotic love is probably the sentiment that is most relevant to the development of the plots. The general rule is to have two pairs of young lovers,Footnote 31 normally identified with the two leading couples in the plot (discussed below), whose eventual union is prevented by frictions related to conflicting love interests and to the moral and political obligations of one or more characters. Further, their marriage becomes possible only when the main conflict is resolved, often thanks to the magnanimity of the ruler. Yet love relationships usually have nuances that produce a wide palette of affects. This was noted by Calzabigi, who explained that the same passion was expressed differently depending on the nature of each character:
Nell'amore amano diversamente il fastoso Agamennone ed il violente Achille, il furioso Orlando e l'onorato Ruggiero, il pio Enea e l'insolente Turno, Semiramide lasciva ed Elena timorosa, la tenera Erminia e l'ingannatrice Armida. . . . tutti questi diversi tocchi di pennello e vari risalti di colori sono connessi, dipendono, derivano dalle diverse proprietà che nel costume de’ personaggi abbiamo antecedentemente determinate.Footnote 32
In love, the pompous Agamemnon and the violent Achilles, the furious Orlando and the honourable Ruggiero, the pious Aeneas and the insolent Turnus, the lascivious Semiramide and the fearful Helen, the tender Erminia and the deceitful Armida, all love differently. . . . all these different strokes of the brush and emphasis on different colours are connected with, depend on, derive from the different properties which have previously been determined in the costume of the characters.
For example, Didone's love for Enea is unrestrained, while Enea's attraction to her is subsidiary to his mission as a Trojan hero and future founder of the Roman Empire. It would be inaccurate to classify Iarba's feelings towards Didone as any kind of love, as they actually represent nothing more than a sheer determination to possess the queen and her city. For his part, Araspe feels sincere love for Selene, who experiences a similar attraction towards Enea, making her feel guilty of betraying her sister, the queen. In Demofoonte, Timante and Dircea feel mutual love, already consummated by their secret marriage, Creusa's feelings for Timante are nothing more than calculated interest and ambition, while Cherinto falls truly in love with his brother's bride. Alessandro's eventual intention to marry Cleofide is not the result of any real attraction but of his generosity, so as to prevent Cleofide's execution by his own soldiers. This situation is not very different from that of Tito, who renounces his love for Berenice and successively plans to marry Servilia and Vitellia for pure political convenience before finally giving up, to accede to the union of the two ladies with Sesto and Annio respectively.
Negative emotions are even more complex. Most characters experience at some point brief negative reactions to events and to the actions of the other characters, but in some cases the negative feelings are long-lasting, turning the character in question into some sort of antagonist. In several instances, antagonism is founded on legitimate rights within the conventions of the time, as happens with the confrontations between Iarba and Enea, Poro and Alessandro or Osroa and Adriano. Conversely, in other cases, opposition is elucidated by a sense of resentment stemming from historical grievances, even if not necessarily morally justified. This is demonstrated through characters such as Vitellia, Artabano or Teagene, as previously discussed. Other instances would be Emilia in Catone in Utica, who hates Cesare because he killed her late husband, Pompeo, or the disguised Emirena in Siroe, who detests Cosroe because he killed her father. Some characters are motivated exclusively by their ambition or interest. For instance, Aquilio's aspiration to wed Sabina compels him to manipulate Adriano into pursuing Emirena, despite the political imprudence of such an action. Similarly, Osmida's betrayal of Didone is driven by the misguided belief that doing so will lead to his coronation by Iarba as the ruler of Carthage.
The Protasis in Metastasio's Dramas
Metastasio's point of departure in each new drama is, as shown above, aimed at creating a unique constellation of characters based on a different mix of these three features, coloured with their ‘costume’, that is to say, with the distinct nature of each character. As we have seen, these are often combined with an additional factor that, in the course of the action, modifies the awareness and impact of these features: the concealment of identity, whether voluntary, through disguise or involuntary, when most or all characters in the plot are unaware of the real identity of one or more personages.
Metastasio uses two complementary resources to illustrate each constellation. The principal means is the actual description of the roles in the paratexts, as he usually provides precise information on their status, kinship and emotional ties. The other is through data provided in the argomento, often detailing the backstory – events antecedent to the beginning of the narrative – that is indispensable for comprehending the unfolding plot.Footnote 33 This is the knowledge provided in Siroe's list of characters:
Cosroe re di Persia amante di Laodice
Siroe primogenito del medesimo e amante di Emira
Medarse secondogenito di Cosroe
Emira principessa di Cambaia in abito da uomo sotto nome d'Idaspe amante di Siroe
Laodice amante di Siroe e sorella di Arasse
Arasse generale dell'armi persiane ed amico di Siroe
Cosroe, King of Persia, in love with Laodice
Siroe, the eldest son of Cosroe, in love with Emira
Medarse, the second son of Cosroe
Emira, a princess of Cambaia, disguised as a man under the name Idaspe, in love with Siroe
Laodice, in love with Siroe and sister of Arasse
Arasse, general of the Persian army and friend of Siroe
This list reveals all the necessary information regarding the characters’ status and kinship (see Figure 3). We learn that the first three, namely, Cosroe, Siroe and Medarse, belong to the Royal Level and are respectively the father and his two sons. Emira, as a princess from a different kingdom, also belongs to the Royal Level, although she is disguised as Idaspe in male clothing; she is united with Siroe by requited love. The last two characters belong to the Heroic Level: the general Arasse is not only commander of Cosroe's army, but also a friend of Siroe; his sister, Laodice, is also in love with the crown prince, Siroe, but is pursued by the reigning monarch, Cosroe.
Constellation of characters in Siroe re di Persia
The remaining information is unveiled the argomento. Cosroe reveals a ‘wicked desire’ to make his second son, Medarse, heir to the crown (despite his ‘fallaci costumi’), against Siroe's legitimate rights. (As explained below, de Van argues that the trigger of many plots is often a ‘mauvais désir’.) Emira, moreover, is the surviving daughter of Cosroe's defeated antagonist, Asbite, king of another realm, who – moved by her hatred towards Cosroe – becomes his most trusted advisor under her fake male identity.Footnote 34
In most cases, the order in the initial presentation of the characters corresponds to their relative status within the constellation. The first name is always the main ruler,Footnote 35 followed by other members of the Royal Level in order of rank (Siroe, the first-born, goes before Medarse but after Cosroe). In Didone, the queen, as the local monarch in Carthage, goes first, followed by Enea and Iarba, a presentation that makes clear the pre-eminence of the Trojan hero over the King of the Moors. In Achille in Sciro, the title role is second to King Licomede only, and it is presented before the royal heiress, Deidamia. The distribution of the remaining roles usually corresponds to their relative status. In Nitteti, Beroe – the hidden royal heiress – appears after King Amasi and his son, Sammete (the crown prince), but before the false Nitteti, whose real identity as Amestri, daughter of Amasi, is not known by anyone, including herself, until the denouement. The last names in the lists usually correspond to members of the lower level.
Convenienze teatrali
Many scholars describe the general characteristics of Metastasian roles by emphasizing their hierarchy in the production system, which is reflected in the number and prominence of their arias. As expressed by Richard Taruskin,
the Metastasian libretto . . . was adjusted to feature six main roles, deployed in two pairs and a ‘remainder’. At the top was the first couple: the primo uomo or first man, almost always played by a castrato, and the prima donna or first lady. . . . the first couple had to sing half the arias in the show, amounting to as many as half a dozen arias apiece. . . . The second couple, also noble, claimed three or four arias apiece. Afterwards came the ‘remainder’: confidants, villains, servants, whatever. They could be given no more than two arias, and these arias had to be positioned less conspicuously than those of the higher-ranking roles.Footnote 36
Olivier Rouvière went a step further in his attempt to define and classify the characters in all of Metastasio's dramas, identifying six main typologies that he discusses in detail, highlighting both their flexibility and contradictions: ‘La grande majorité [des drames de Metastase] présente la distribution suivante: deux femmes pour quatre hommes . . . que nous nommerons prima donna, seconda donna, primo uomo, secondo uomo, “roi” et “traître/comparse”’ (Most of Metastasio's dramas feature the following distribution: two women for four men . . . which we will call prima donna, seconda donna, primo uomo, secondo uomo, ‘king’ and ‘traitor/accomplice’).Footnote 37 This largely coincides with the standard hierarchy discussed by other authors, who sometimes also mention other archetypal roles, such as the patriarchal figure,Footnote 38 the rulerFootnote 39 or the antagonist.Footnote 40
As an artist working within an industry, Metastasio's creativity was shaped by a series of conventions within the operatic business. In the early stages of his theatrical career, around 1724, the Italian ‘business of opera’ had already crystallized into a very efficient production system, adopted even for court operas, as the distilled product of nearly a century of commercial enterprise.Footnote 41 The initial Venetian system underwent a critical change around 1700, reducing the number and typologies of characters, which resulted in what we now call opera seria.Footnote 42 The effectiveness of this ‘product’ made possible its replication throughout Europe, allowing for the massive dissemination and consolidation of the genre during the following decades.
In terms of the operatic roles, the most visible feature in this process was the establishment of a fixed number of actors with very specific characteristics, which were clearly described, usually with sarcasm, by a number of contemporary writers.Footnote 43 The anonymous author of the Lettre sur le mécanisme de l'opéra italien (1756) states as follows:
La Tragédie qui se chante est limitée à un nombre d'Acteurs; jamais moins de six, jamais plus de sept. Quand le sujet n'en demanderoit que cinq, l'Auteur ne peut se dispenser d'en employer six, sauf à ajouter un froid épisode. Quelque besoin qu'il ait aussi d'un nombre supérieur, il faut qu'il se restraigne à celui de sept, précepte dicté par l’économie, & mieux observé que ceux d'Aristote. Il y a de régle deux femmes & cinq hommes, ou femmes travesties, ce qui revient au même; en effet, sans cet expédient, il ne seroit pas possible de fournir au nombre de Dessus, qu'il faut dans un Opéra, puisque dans ces six ou sept voix, on n'y souffre au plus qu'une Taille; & si belle qu'elle soit, c'est toujours la voix qui y brille le moins, [par] rapport à la nature de la Musique Italienne.Footnote 44
The tragedy that is sung is limited to a number of actors; never fewer than six, never more than seven. When the subject requires only five, the author cannot dispense with using six, unless he wants to add a cold [superfluous] episode. Whatever need he may have for a greater number, he must restrict himself to seven, a precept dictated by economy, and better observed than those of Aristotle. There are as a rule two women and five men (or cross-dressed women, which amounts to the same thing); indeed, without this expedient, it would not be possible to provide the number of sopranos that is necessary in an opera, since in these six or seven voices, only one tenor can be accepted; and however beautiful it may be, it is always this voice which shines the least, in relation to the nature of Italian music.
In the prologue to the eleventh volume of his Commedie, published in Venice in 1761, Carlo Goldoni quotes ironically the recommendations he received from a certain Conte Prata in Milan around 1732, when he was a novice librettist:
Il primo Soprano, la prima Donna e il tenore, che sono i tre principali Attori del Dramma, devono cantare cinque arie per ciascheduno, una patetica, una di bravura, una parlante, una di mezzo carattere ed una brillante. Il secondo Uomo e la seconda Donna devono averne quattro per uno, e l'ultima parte tre, ed altrettante un settimo personaggio, se l'opera lo richiede; poiché (per parentesi) i personaggi non devono essere più di sei o sette.Footnote 45
The primo soprano, the prima donna and the tenore, who are the three principal actors in the drama, must sing five arias each, a pathetic, a bravura, a parlante, a mezzo carattere and a brillante. The secondo uomo and seconda donna must have four each, and the ultima parte three, the same as the seventh character, should the opera require it; because there must not be more than six or seven characters in it.
Goldoni replicates the story with slight but significant changes, a quarter of a century later, in his Mémoires (1787), this time written in French:
Je vais vous indiquer quelques-unes de ces regles, qui sont immuables, & que vous ne connoissez pas.
Les trois principaux sujets du Drame doivent chanter cinq airs chacun; deux dans le premier acte, deux dans le second, & un dans le troisieme. La seconde Actrice et le second dessus ne peuvent en avoir que trois, & les derniers rôles doivent se contenter d'un ou de deux tout au plus.Footnote 46
I will tell you some of these rules, which are immutable, and of which you are not aware.
The three principal actors of the drama must sing five arias each: two in the first act, two in the second and one in the third. The second actress and the second soprano can't have more than three, and the last roles must be satisfied with one or two at the most.
Other evidence clarifies that the conventions were more flexible, depending on the specific circumstances of each theatre, production and cast. A well-known letter addressed to Ludovico Muratori by Giuseppe Riva, writing about the London stage, states:
Per quest'anno e per gli altri due avvenire, bisogna che nelle opere vi siano due parti eguali per la Cuzzoni e la Faustina. Senesino è il primo personaggio da uomo e la sua parte dev'essere eroica. Le altre parti per uomo debbono andare gradatamente, tre uno per uno in ciascun atto.
For this year and the two following there must be two equal parts in the operas for [Francesca] Cuzzoni and Faustina [Bordoni]; Senesino is the chief male character, and his part must be heroic; the other three male parts must proceed by degrees with three arias each, one in each act. The duet should be at the end of the second act, and between the two ladies.Footnote 47
Notwithstanding the satirical innuendo, from these and other sources we can assume that the convenienze teatrali – ‘codice non scritto che . . . regolava la gerarchia dei ruoli e delle parti, sia nella stipula dei contratti sia nella distribuzione dei numeri musicali’ (the unwritten code that . . . regulated the hierarchy of roles and parts, both in the stipulation of contracts and in the distribution of musical numbers)Footnote 48 – prescribed six or seven roles, divided into three principals (two high voices and a tenor), two secondary (also high voices) and one or two figurants (vocal type not prescribed). The two pairs of high voices had to be divided into male and female characters. The rules also mandated that the number and typology of arias per character correlated with its hierarchy: they should be equal for the three principals (five each), slightly lower for the two secondaries (four or three each) and minimal for the rest.
Other factors, particularly the position of each aria in the dramatic continuum and the participation of some characters in duets and other ensembles, also related to the hierarchy, are not mentioned in the historical sources quoted above. In this respect, the final scene of the first two acts is the most prominent location for an aria, as it allows a single character – or a couple – to sing alone on stage at the culmination of the act. Since the third act tends to conclude with a chorus (in twenty-two out of twenty-six dramas), this leaves two stellar positions in each opera. The closure of the different mutazioni – scene-complexes or sequences – in the middle of the acts, at least one per act in most plays, is second in relevance, as it provides additional opportunities for a character to sing alone on stage.Footnote 49
Furthermore, over half of Metastasio's dramas include ‘duets [that] were virtually the exclusive province of this pair [the first couple]’,Footnote 50 usually placed at the end of the first or second act, while larger ensembles are seldom used but have similar relevance: there are examples of trios (Catone, Nitteti, Clelia), a quartet (Il re pastore), and even an exceptional sextet at the end of Antigono.Footnote 51 In short, the hierarchy of a singer in opera seria is reflected in both the number of arias and ensembles and their position in the dramatic continuum.
Nevertheless, a comparative analysis of Metastasio's dramas shows, not surprisingly, that they conform to these convenienze only to a certain extent. They do conform with regard to the number of roles, since six or seven are found in all but two of his late dramas: Il re pastore and L'eroe cinese, with five characters each, both actually premiered not by professional singers, but by ladies and gentlemen of the Viennese court.Footnote 52 Moreover, most dramas feature two women and four or five men, the exceptions being Issipile,Footnote 53 which includes a third woman, and Achille in Sciro, with no seconda donna (Achille disguised as Pirra serves as a virtual seconda donna).
Regarding the correlation between character hierarchy and number of arias, Maeder observes that ‘un breve spoglio di opere metastasiane dimostra che il poeta cesareo non si curava affatto di simili convenzioni’ (a brief survey of Metastasio's works demonstrates that the poeta cesareo paid little attention to such conventions),Footnote 54 highlighting the difficulty in identifying the lead couple in L'Olimpiade based on the number and distribution of arias. He concludes by saying ‘nella poetica metastasiana prevale la trama sulle “convenzioni” teatrali e sulla presunta importanza di un personaggio’ (in Metastasio's poetics, the plot prevails over theatrical ‘conventions’ and the presumed importance of a character).Footnote 55
Siroe also confirms that Metastasio did not quite follow the convenienze, even in the initial stages of his career. In the princeps version (first edition of the printed libretto) for Venice in 1726, set by Leonardo Vinci, every character has five arias, except the confidant Arasse (with two), and it contains no duet or ensemble. The plot suggests that the primi were Siroe and Emira, the secondi Medarse and Laodice, the tenore Cosroe and Arasse the ultima parte. The closures of the first two acts are reserved for Emira and Medarse, while those of the middle sequences are reserved for Arasse (Act 1), Cosroe (Act 2) and Medarse (twice in Act 3). Therefore Medarse, clearly the bad guy in the plot, is given more opportunities to shine than anyone else, at the expense of the title role Siroe, purportedly the primo uomo, whose ranking would appear to be below that of not only Medarse, but also Cosroe and Emira, if we only count the number and position of arias.
Moreover, the challenge in associating Metastasio's characters with the singers’ categories is also uncertain because these categories were not fixed for each drama. As observed by Reinhard Strohm, ‘perpetual changes of cast involved changes of precedence among the singers’.Footnote 56 Metastasio doubtless bore these conventions in mind when writing his plays, but the actual function of every role in each production depended on specific circumstances, as illustrated by several examples. In the princeps version of Didone abbandonata for Naples in 1724, set to music by Domenico Sarro, the three main characters had a different number of arias: eight for Iarba, seven for Enea and six for Didone. However, while Iarba sings two arias at the closure of middle scene-settings, Enea is given the stellar opportunity to close the first act and Didone the second and third, thus balancing the prominence of the three roles. Araspe and Selene appear to be the second couple, not only because of their lower status and subsidiary role in the plot, but also because they sing five arias apiece, including one at the closure of a middle mutazione. Moreover, in Sarro's original setting, Enea's part was written for soprano (the Neapolitan castrato Nicola Grimaldi) and Iarba's for female alto (Antonia Merighi), while the tenor voice was assigned to Araspe (Annibale Pio Fabbri). If these voice settings were to be classified from Goldoni's perspective, Araspe would be the tenore, but the roles of Iarba and Enea are so well balanced that it would be difficult to identify any of them as primo or secondo uomo from their musical prominence alone.Footnote 57 As illustrated by Table 3, the long run of Didone abbandonata accommodated this hierarchical distribution differently: a near-exhaustive examination of around one hundred pre-1800 productions demonstrates that Enea was assigned to a high voice in ninety-five per cent of the settings, Araspe in eighty-nine per cent and Iarba a mere twenty-one per cent; the remaining seventy-nine per cent was written for tenor voice (with just three examples for bass).Footnote 58 In other words, the performance tradition of Didone abbandonata classified Enea as the primo uomo, Araspe as the secondo and Iarba as the tenore. Regardless of what Metastasio had in mind, the ‘business of opera’ adapted his drama to fit in the production system.Footnote 59
Vocal typology of the four male roles in most musical settings of Didone abbandonata
High voices are S (soprano, written in the C1 clef) and A (alto, written in the C3 clef); natural male voices are T (tenor, written in the C4 clef) and B (bass, written in the F4 clef). Full details of these and other productions, including complete sources, can be found at https://arias.didone.eu/.
Similarly, in the princeps version of Alessandro, set to music by Vinci for Rome in 1730, both Alessandro and Poro were written for soprano, Gandarte for tenor and Timagene for alto. Poro is given the most prominent position, with six arias and one cavatina plus two duets with Cleofide (one at the closure of Act 1); Alessandro sings only five arias, none of which is in a prominent part of the drama; and Cleofide sings five arias plus two duets. Interestingly, Erissena is assigned six arias (one more than Cleofide), including one solo scene at the end of Act 2, making her role almost as outstanding as that of Cleofide. Gandarte sings only four arias, one of them ending a scene-complex in the middle of Act 1, while Timagene sings three, but two of them conclude two stage settings. This distribution further proves that Metastasio did not adhere closely to the purportedly rigid rules of the production system and, for him, Poro and Alessandro were to be played by the primo and the secondo uomo, Gandarte by the tenore and Timagene by the ultima parte, all with an uneven number of arias. Looking at the arias alone make it difficult to classify the two female roles, but the duets and status of her character leave no doubt that Cleofide was originally the prima donna. However, an exhaustive examination of around ninety versions of Alessandro nell'Indie composed before 1800 demonstrates that Poro was sung by a high voice in ninety-nine per cent of the settings, Alessandro was assigned to a tenor (or bass) in seventy-three per cent of the productions and Timagene in some twenty-two per cent, while Gandarte's setting for a natural male voice was an exception, found in a mere six per cent of the versions (most before 1750). This implies that, in the long term, the market run of the libretto classified Alessandro as the tenore and Gandarte as the secondo uomo.
Analogous circumstances are found in the case of other works, as revealed by an analysis of the leading male roles. The primo uomo in Artaserse is clearly Arbace, written for high voice in all the extant versions, while Artaserse is composed for such a register in ninety per cent and Artabano only in twenty-one per cent of cases. In Demofoonte, Timante is also set for alto or soprano in all the known examples, while Cherinto is so in ninety-four per cent and Demofoonte in a mere seventeen per cent. This implies that Arbace and Timante were always the primi uomini, Artaserse and Cherinto usually the secondi and Artabano and Demofoonte the tenori in most of the productions.
In other words, when Metastasio wrote his dramas, he may have had a specific idea about the hierarchy of roles, but these were consequently transformed in practice, very often against Metastasio's purported thoughts. This explains why many of the most elevated characters were ascribed a high voice in the first production but ended up being assigned to a tenor. Conversely, some characters assigned to a tenor voice in the princeps version of many operas (Araspe, Gandarte, Aquilio, Adrasto) were assigned to high voices in most of the later allestimenti (musical settings). Therefore applying the standard terminology used for the roles to a dramaturgical analysis of the works, or intermingling the hierarchy enforced by the convenienze with the social status or specific dramatic functions of the characters, can be misleading, because the convenienze are not permanent categories of the dramatic text but specific characteristics of each production.
A Twofold Dramaturgy
It is not by accident that Conte Prata, taking Metastasio as a model, prescribed three principals in each dramma per musica, and not just two, as most modern scholars claim. In most of Metastasio's dramas – this is true for other librettists as well – two leading characters are found, if not three. As observed by Reinhard Wiesend, Metastasio stresses in the argomento of Alessandro nell'Indie that the principal action is the ‘famed generosity of Alexander the Great’, to illustrate which the dramatist composed the episodes featuring Poro and Cleofide.Footnote 60 Wiesend underlines that the balance in the number of arias between both characters remains similar in later versions, when the total number was progressively reduced. He concludes that Alessandro is the hero of the drama, the true protagonist; yet, as we have already seen from the musical logic alone, Poro is clearly the primo uomo. The question here is, if Alessandro is not the primo uomo, what role does he play in the plot?
In his Estratto dell'Arte Poetica d'Aristotile, Metastasio repeatedly mentions that every plot is structured in one ‘azione principale’ and several ‘azioni subalterne’. Gilles de Van uses these categories as a point of departure for his analysis of Metastasio's dramas,Footnote 61 identifying not two but three types of action: ‘action principale’ (principal action), ‘action d'intrigue’ (plot action) and ‘action subalterne’ (subaltern).
The principal action is the main conflict that is resolved in the denouement, and it always has a politico-dynastic character: de Van explains that in nearly half of the dramas, ‘l'action principale décrit le rétablissement de l'ordre légitime troublé par des incidents divers’ (the principal action describes the restoration of legitimate order disturbed by various incidents).Footnote 62 For example, Metastasio indicates that the principal action in Artaserse is the final unveiling of Artabano's crime and the consolidation of Artaserse as King of Persia, while in Olimpiade he specifies that the principal action is the recognition of Licida as Filinto, the supposedly dead son of King Clistene, and therefore as the crown prince; in Siroe, the principal action is the restoration of the title role as legitimate heir. In other dramas, the principal action consists in the acceptance of the hero's destiny: Achille reveals his true identity, abandoning his disguise as a female, marries his beloved Deidamia and joins the Achaeans in the conquest of Troy.
According to Metastasio,
Le varie azioni subalterne, inevitabili produttrici della principale, e per prepararvi e farvi succedere tutte le interessanti situazioni e peripezie, utili a trattenere e sorprendere con diletto lo spettatore ed indispensabilmente necessarie a render verisimile la catastrofe.Footnote 63
The subaltern actions, inevitable producers of the main one, [are required] to prepare for all the interesting situations and vicissitudes, useful to entertain and surprise the spectator with pleasure and indispensable to make the denouement verisimilar.
Within the subaltern actions, de Van identifies the ‘action d'intrigue’ (plot action) as ‘l’élément moteur qui met en mouvement l'intrigue’ (the driving force that sets the plot in motion),Footnote 64 or the dramatic events created by the librettist to trigger the plot's action and facilitate the final resolution of the principal action. Plot action and principal action are two complementary aspects of the same events: if the plot action is the action that initiates the plot, the principal action is the reaction that resolves the conflict. Metastasio characterizes this trigger action as one ‘azione subalterna’,Footnote 65 yet de Van argues that the plot action is essential for the principal action to occur. He points out that, often, the plot action is provoked by a ‘mauvais désir’ (wicked desire) or any other disturbing initiative: Iarba's claiming Didone's hand to obtain her crown and her bed; Artabano's ambition and desire for revenge, which motivates him to kill King Serse; Cosroe's mischievous preference for his second son, Medarse, as heir instead of the legitimate crown prince, Siroe; Vitellia's desire for revenge against Tito because of his purported decision to marry another woman.
For example, the plot action of Alessandro is Poro's desire for revenge after being defeated, while the subaltern action is his jealousy when Cleofide attempts to allure Alessandro; the same is true of Erissena's attraction to the monarch, Selene's love for Enea, Marzia's love for Cesare (in Catone), Emirena's desire for revenge against Cosroe and Laodice's love for Siroe. Many of these circumstances have no critical influence on the denouement of the principal action but are required for the members of the cast to have their fifteen minutes of glory. It is a condition of the musical convenienze, not a requirement of the dramatic economy.
This analysis unveils how most of Metastasio's dramas appear to be conceived with two parallel and simultaneous dimensions in mind, two different systems: a twofold dramaturgy. On the one hand, he always aims to write authentic tragedies that could be acknowledged as reaching the same level as that of any spoken theatrical play: the dramatic dimension. On the other hand, he created drammi per musica, librettos, whose function was to be the basis for operatic scores to be performed live, with music by professional singers: the musical dimension.Footnote 66 Metastasio demonstrates a tremendous ability to merge these two different – seemingly conflicting and contrasting – needs, by perfectly harmonizing them. The secret to his plots lies in his skill at creating and synthesizing sentimental tragedies driven by contrasting passions, vividly expressed through music and theatre.
Metastasio's own writings reveal that the dramatic dimension was of primary importance for him: ‘i miei drammi in tutta l'Italia, per quotidiana esperienza, sono di gran lunga più sicuri del pubblico favore recitati da’ comici che cantati da’ musici’ (my dramas, throughout Italy, get much more favour from the public when they are declaimed by actors than when sung by musicians). In the endless struggle between music and poetry, he claimed that ‘quando la musica . . . aspira nel dramma alle prime parti in concorso della poesia, distrugge questa e se stessa’ (when the music aspires to play the main part in the drama, above poetry, it destroys both).Footnote 67 In fact, Metastasio rarely mentions the music or the composers in his correspondence.Footnote 68 Piero Weiss suggests that Metastasio wrote his Estratto dell'Arte Poetica d'Aristotile to demonstrate that
the Italian opera as practiced by Metastasio – the opera seria, in other words – is a tragedy in the full sense of the word; indeed, a tragedy more perfect in every way than the Greek prototype, more perfect even (though he never brings himself to say this) than the spoken tragedies of the great French masters.Footnote 69
Metastasio's ambition was acknowledged by many of his contemporaries, particularly Calzabigi, who wrote in his Dissertazione that ‘i nostri drammi dopo che dal celebre Zeno e poi dal nostro Poeta [Metastasio] nella regolar forma in cui oggi si veggono sono stati ridotti, possono chiamarsi una perfetta imitazione delle tragedie greche e latine’ (our dramas, after the celebrated Zeno, and after our poet [Metastasio], in the regular form to which they have been reduced today, can be called perfect imitations of Greek and Roman tragedies), and stated further that ‘in tal maniera vantaggiata trovandosi sopra le greche e le latine la nostra Tragedia, non v'ha dubbio che come una cosa perfetta risguardar non si debba’ (in this way, our tragedy, having the advantage over the Greek and Roman forms, should undoubtedly be regarded as something perfect).Footnote 70
Conversely, Don Neville observes that Metastasio never uses the word ‘tragedy’ for his works, only ‘drama’, and claims that the poet wrote the Estratto as ‘an oblique acknowledgement of the opera libretto as a genre quite independent of Aristotle's three categories: tragedy, comedy, and satyr plays’.Footnote 71 Metastasio's dramatic aspiration was at the heart of his poetic endeavour.
The dramatic dimension is directly related to de Van's ‘action d'intrigue’, which prompts the plot towards the ‘action principale’. As prescribed by Aristotle, a tragedy presents characters who are ‘better than in real life’ (Poetics, 1448a) and whose conflicts are elevated to a level above that of normal people. Thus the protagonists of this dramatic dimension in Metastasio's plots tend to be characters of higher status, usually the title role, who often happens to be a monarch, a crown prince or a hero. As observed by Neville, these protagonists are always driven by moral principles and are more often defined by their ability to have rational control over their emotions (following Cartesian principles), and thereby have fewer opportunities to express extreme passions, which would have given room for more varied arias.Footnote 72
Conversely, in opera, as proposed by Dahlhaus, the fabula ‘serves merely as the raison d’être of a configuration of characters, whose emotions and emotional conflicts, expressed in music, represent the true drama’.Footnote 73 In a Metastasian libretto, the leading roles in the musical dimension are usually characterized by their relative lack of control over their passions, which results in greater opportunities for intense emotional situations and therefore more contrasting and beautiful arias. The emotions resulting from these conflicts as expressed through music are the focus of the fable, precisely because these characters are not ‘better than in real life’, but just ordinary human beings. Furthermore, the action that would be regarded as subsidiary to the principal action becomes crucial in the development of the dramma per musica, because the ‘vari accidenti (i quali prestano al presente dramma gli ornamenti episodici)’ (the various incidents that provide the episodic embellishments of the present drama), as they are described in the argomento of Artaserse, are the essential elements that create the circumstances for each member of the cast to express varied emotions in music. Paraphrasing Dahlhaus, and contrary to Metastasio's own statement, the substance of opera is not the vicissitudes experienced by the characters, but the emotions provoked by these events as expressed in the arias and ensembles. This is precisely why the characteristic trait of a dramma per musica, as opposed to a standard spoken tragedy, is the weight given to its ‘secondary’ characters, whose main function in a tragedy would have been just to create and maintain a conflict.
Therefore most of Metastasio's dramas constitute a complex dramatic structure with two layers of meaning: a twofold dramaturgy. On the one hand, there is the main moral and political conflict, usually centred on dynastic problems faced by a character of the highest status who is challenged by external circumstances. On the other hand, there are more ordinary individuals who are dominated by their passions and whose conflicts provide opportunities for the expression of distinct affetti. The first layer has a theatrical foundation, to fulfil Metastasio's aspiration ‘all'immortalità in un Parnaso purtroppo dominato ancora sempre dai francesi’ (to immortality in a Parnassus unfortunately still always dominated by the French).Footnote 74 The second layer has a musical basis, inevitably required for the materialization of Italian opera. No accurate understanding of Metastasio's system can be achieved without considering both dimensions.
Going back to Alessandro, this double structure explains why this plot contains three protagonists: Alessandro is the dramatic protagonist, while Poro and Cleofide are the musical protagonists of the operatic (and more human) dimension, thus providing an explanation for the change in the title to Cleofide or Poro in several settings of the drama. As mentioned earlier, Poro's ‘evil desire’ for revenge is the trigger for the plot, supported by subaltern actions, such as Cleofide's manoeuvres to attract Alessandro in order to protect Poro (unwillingly arousing his jealousy), or Timagene's treasonous feelings towards his Macedonian lord, thus providing an opportunity to express a rich palette of emotional conflicts and, at the same time, to display Alessandro's generosity, which is the principal action. This explains how the antagonist in the drama, Poro, becomes the protagonist of the musical dimension. Conversely, Alessandro is the hero of the principal action, and at the same time the antagonist of the primo uomo.
A similar situation can be observed in Artaserse. The title role is the protagonist of the drama, yet the leading character of the musical dimension is Arbace, the primo uomo assoluto, who is believed to be Artaserse's antagonist during most of the play, until the denouement unveils Artabano's crime.
Achille in Sciro is a particular case in terms of this double dimension. The title role is the absolute protagonist of both the dramatic and the musical dimensions, as he is assigned four arias, one cavatina and one solo song with chorus. Deidamia is doubtless the prima donna, with four arias, but, as stated before, there is no seconda donna, a role ideally fulfilled by Achille, so to speak by proxy, as long as he is disguised as Pirra. Teagene would appear to be the secondo uomo only because he is Achille's contender for the love of Deidamia; however, he is assigned just two arias, both placed in the most relevant position, at the close of Acts 1 and 2, after emotionally intense scenes with Achille and Deidamia respectively. Conversely, Ulisse has three arias – only one of them at the end of a scene-complex – but participates in sixteen scenes, twice as many as Teagene or Licomede, and is the mastermind in the plot, from its triggering point to its resolution. From a musical point of view, Ulisse is a minor role whose arias do not reflect intense emotions, merely a display of pride and smugness about his own ingenuity, yet he is the essential antagonist to the hero, without whom there would be no action in the drama. In contrast, Teagene has little influence on the plot, merely providing some piquant flavour when he becomes fascinated by the fierce maiden in Sciros (in fact Achille, disguised as Pirra), but he is given a starring role from the musical perspective. A brilliant secondo uomo was required, and the ‘costume particolare’ of the cerebral Ulisse did not quite fulfil the requirements.
These multiple protagonists can be easily detected in other dramas. In La clemenza di Tito, the emperor is the protagonist, whose principal action is to project generosity and magnanimity. This is why the dramatist had to include the revengeful and dominant Vitellia, who is able to manipulate Sesto's will. Sesto, driven by his uncontrollable love for Vitellia, betrays and attempts to kill his best friend and natural lord. Tito's clemency is the moral message of the drama, but it would have been quite tiresome if Metastasio had not built the real story, the intreccio of the malicious Vitellia and the weak Sesto (among other characters). In fact, there would be no opera with characters such as Tito or Alessandro alone, because they are too perfect and controlled. Challenging their integrity is necessary not only to provide opportunities for them to display their moral superiority, but also to reveal the existence of other human beings whose nature and temperament would not allow them to control their passions (Poro, Vitellia, Sesto, Emirena and others).
Conclusion
Metastasio's dramas are complex structures that satisfy a number of requirements and circumstances. First, they are written within a production system that has specific conditions regarding the number and characteristics of the performers, the convenienze teatrali. Second, they present two parallel and complementary layers of meaning: the dramatic dimension that responds to the poet's theatrical aspirations and aesthetic ideals, and the musical dimension, which responds to the requirements of the operatic enterprise. Third, Metastasio creates a specific constellation of characters for each drama that both fits the operatic conventions and simultaneously provides an opportunity to explore the most elevated dimension of theatre. In other words, the operas based on Metastasio's librettos are the confluence, the synthesis, of two contrasting models: the (ideal) classical theatre and the (real) operatic business. The secret lies in the way he defines the characters and their conflicts so that they can operate on both levels. Calzabigi writes that ‘m'accuserà taluno di fermarmi oltre al dovere in ciò che al costume riguarda; ma oltreché questa a mio credere è la parte piu essenziale della Tragedia, ella è anche la più difficile a sostenere degnamente e con proprietà’ (some may accuse me of dwelling beyond what is necessary on matters concerning the nature of a character; but besides the fact that this is, in my opinion, the most essential part of tragedy, it is also the most difficult to uphold with dignity and propriety).Footnote 75 We go a step further, claiming that the nature of every single character as well as the constellation and kinship relations in which they are situated have consequences for the musical expression of the resulting emotions.
The search for an archetype to explain the construction of Metastasian operas has prevented appreciation of the richness and variety of his plots and characters, often leading to simplistic descriptions of his dramaturgy. The alternative method we propose, grounded in a comparative approach, seeks to merge the achievements based on a theatrical analysis with the convenienze that involve processes characteristic of the musical dimension of opera. We do so by focusing on the relationships based on status, kinship and emotions, revealing that each Metastasian drama is, by itself, a unique solution that is never repeated. This explains why a handful of his librettos, receiving more favour from the public, were set to music more than a hundred times, while many others rarely went beyond a couple of dozen (or fewer). It is in this variety that the success of Metastasio is primarily founded.
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