CARLO FRANCESCO POLLAROLO – Il colore fa la regina

Description

CARLO FRANCESCO POLLAROLO (1653 – 1723)

IL COLORE FA LA REGINA

Dramma per musica in 3 atti

Libretto: Matteo Noris

Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, 1700

Critical edition by Holger Schmitt-Hallenberg

Includes libretto in Italian and English (edited and translated by Flavio Ferri-Benedetti)

Introduction by Holger Schmitt-Hallenberg

315 pages – A4, adhesive binding

Price: 130 Eur

Cast:

Eritrea (prima donna), soprano; Adelasio (primo uomo), soprano; Gelinda (seconda donna), soprano; Arieno (secondo uomo), alto;

Tassillo, alto; Viteio, tenor; Telesio, bass; Eurillo, alto.

Orchestra: Ob. I, II; Vl. I, II; Vla I, II; B.C.

Despite its extravagant and fantastical exotism, the plot of  Il colore fa la regina feels strikingly actual for our times. Not only are the plights of the tragic heroine Eritrea similar to the fate of today’s refugees and victims of human trafficking: Sold by her desperate, impoverished mother to a passing traveler, kidnapped by pirates during a dangerous boat journey, sold into the harem of a prince, who at the beginning of the opera gives her as a present to his future wife Gelinda; but the operatic convention of mistaken identities and gender extends here further to the question of race, the importance of skin color to success and recognition.

Pollarolo’s stunning music is highly original, expressive and features a great variety of aria forms and ensembles.