Ottone in villa (Otho at his villa, RV 729) is an opera in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi to an Italian libretto by Domenico Lalli, which in turn is based on Messalina by Francesco Maria Piccioli.
It was Vivaldi’s first opera and premiered in 1713 at the Teatro delle Grazie in Vicenza. When he produced this opera Vivaldi was thirty-five years old and was already a famous composer of instrumental music and could now count on a long career as a violinist in the opera houses of Venice. All this made it easier for him to make his debut in this new musical genre. He decided to give his first theatrical performance in Vicenza, far from the Venetian musical environment, so that an unexpected failure could not compromise his career as a composer.
Lalli’s pastoral drama is set in ancient Rome and was a condensed adaptation of Francesco Maria Piccioli’s satirical libretto. However, Lalli changed several of the characters in Piccioli’s libretto. Messalina became an invented character, Cleonilla. Emperor Claudius became another Roman emperor, Otho (Ottone), who had already appeared as a protagonist in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (1642) and in Handel’s Agrippina(1709).
Conductor is Diego Fasolis, director Giovanni Di Cicco, sets Massimo Checchetto, costumes Carlos Tieppo and lighting Fabio Barettin.
Website: www.teatrolafenice.it
Location: La Fenice Theater, Venice
Schedule: from July 10th to 15th 2020
Hour: 7.00 pm
Ticket: up to € 110
