I/27

Ermione

Azione tragica in two acts by
ANDREA LEONE TOTTOLA

First performance:
Naples - Teatro San Carlo
27 March 1819

Critical Edition by
PATRICIA B. BRAUNER
and
PHILIP GOSSETT

FONDAZIONE ROSSINI PESARO 1995

CHARACTERS:
ERMIONE, soprano
ANDROMACA, contralto
ASTIANATTE, silent
PIRRO, tenor
ORESTE, tenor
PILADE, tenor
FENICIO, bass
CLEONE, soprano
CEFISA, soprano
ATTALO, tenor
Mixed Chorus of lords of Epirus, Phrygian prisoners, followers of Oreste, Spartan maidens

The action takes place in Buthrote, Capital of the kingdom of Epirus

Instrumentation: 2 Flutes/Piccolo, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Timpani, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Triangle, Strings. Onstage: Band
Performance time: 2h

Rossini treasured this opera and called it his "little William Tell." Derived ultimately from Andromaque, Racine's dramatization of some episodes of the period after the Trojan War, its musical focus is primarily on the realization of the four major characters, revealed both in the arias and in intensely dramatic duets. Rossini presses the conventional forms of these numbers by introducing minor characters and the chorus (which is heard even behind the dropped curtain during the overture). The gran scena for Ermione in Act II is his finest achievement in this genre.

Ermione was not appreciated in Rossini's lifetime, but he turned to it time and again as a source for other music, from short songs based on a motive from the gran scena to numbers adopted wholesale into other operas. Modern revivals based on the critical edition have confirmed that it holds a special place among his works.

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