Ezio - Vienna version 1763/64 (Vocal Score)

Gluck Ezio - Vienna version 1763/64 (Vocal Score)

Opera in 3 Acts

Performance material available for hire (BA5774-72)

Ezio is based on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio which was first set to music by Nicola Porpora (1728), then by Georg Friedrich Handel (1732) and Christoph Willibald Gluck in 1750, amongst many others. The Vienna version, premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 26 December 1763, is a completely new arrangement of the original Prague version of 1750. The revival of Italian opera and the upheaval which followed in the wake of the so-called opera reform make the new version a true reform work.

The Vienna version offers more concentrated dramatic material and redresses the dramatic weaknesses of the first version. The characterisation of the individual roles is clearer and gains in conciseness. The main plot; Massimo’s intrigues and the resulting fall of Ezio from celebrated hero to outlawed traitor, together with the love affair between Ezio and Fulvia becomes the focus of attention.

The Vocal score is based on Gabriele Buschmeier’s 1992 edition of the Vienna version of Ezio published as part of Christoph Willibald Gluck - Complete Works Series III/24. It contains a straightforward and easy-to-play Piano reduction, Italian text with German singing translation, and a detailed foreword (Ger/Eng) by the editor.