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Semiramide

Melodramma tragico in two acts by
GAETANO ROSSI

First performance:
Venice – Teatro La Fenice
3 February 1823  

Critical Edition by
PHILIP GOSSETT
and
ALBERTO ZEDDA

FONDAZIONE ROSSINI PESARO 2001

CHARACTERS:
SEMIRAMIDE, Queen of Babylon, soprano
ARSACE, Commander of the army, contralto
ASSUR, Prince of the royal house of Belo, bass
IDRENO, King of the Indus, tenor
AZEMA, Princess of the royal house of Belo, soprano
OROE, grand wizard, bass
MITRANE, captain of the royal guards, tenor
The Ghost of NINO, bass
Mixed chorus of satraps, wizards, Babylonians, Indians, Egyptians, Scythians, princesses, female bards, foreign women;
silent: royal guards, ministers of the Temple, Indians, Scythians, Egyptians, Babylonians, maidens, girls, and boys.

The action takes place in Babylon

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: 3h 45m

In the last opera he composed for Italy, Rossini returned to a more classical spirit after the experimental works of Naples, while maintaining the large dimensions developed in the opere serie for that city. Like Rossini's earlier Venetian triumph, Tancredi (by the same librettist), Semiramide is based on a play by Voltaire. In it Rossini demonstrated the possibility of attaining masterful heights while still remaining true to neoclassical archetypes of style and form: a traditional overture, a preponderance of arias and duets. The opera gained public favor and remained in the repertoire throughout the 19th century.

The critical edition relies on the autograph score of the opera, supplemented by the recent discovery, among the performing materials of La Fenice, of the autograph spartitino (short score containing instruments that did not fit on the pages of the crowded principal score). An appendix includes Gossett's edition of Rossini's sketches for several numbers. Following the main score in three volumes, a fourth volume provides the original realization for the on-stage band. The historical introduction uses contemporary documents to illuminate the civic disturbance surrounding the premiere of the opera.

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