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FULL LA MEROPE (Terradellas) Madrid 2025 Emoke Baráth, Pia Francesca Vitale, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Valerio Contaldo
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: La Merope
- Composer: Terradellas Domènec
- Libretto: Apostolo Zeno
- Venue & Opera Company: Teatro real, Madrid, Spain
- Recorded: February 21, 2025
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Emoke Baráth, Pia Francesca Vitale, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Valerio Contaldo, Sunhae Im, Margherita Maria Sala, Thomas Hobbs
- Conductor: Francesco Corti
- Orchestra: Akademie für Alte Musik de Berlín
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Teatro Real
- Date Published: 2025
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
This work by Domènec Terradellas is a historic revival of Spanish operatic heritage. It narrates the tragedy of Merope, Queen of Epirus. It is being presented for the first time at the Teatro Real with the Akademie für Alte Musik, a renowned instrumental ensemble conducted by Francesco Corti.
This opera narrates the tragedy of Merope, Queen of Epirus, and her son Epitide. The plot centers on the conflict between love and duty when Epitide falls in love with his sister Electra, triggering a series of tragic events. Cardinal Acquaviva—the Neapolitan nuncio to Rome—was so impressed upon witnessing the premiere of Domènec Tarradellas’s La Merope in Rome that he soon after wrote to the court of Naples highly recommending the composer and reporting a success “such as no one can recall for many years.” Born in Barcelona—but trained in Naples—and a generational companion to Jommelli and Galuppi, Terradellas presented this work during the Roman carnivals of 1743, and later exhibited in other Italian cities, such as Florence, Livorno, and Ancona.
The opera, based on Euripides’ Cresphontes , tells of the return of Epitide to his homeland to overthrow the usurper Polyphon and prevent the tyrant from forcing him to marry his mother, Merope. The agonistic exchanges between the main characters give the composer the opportunity to showcase the most notable features of his style: ferocious expression, supported by the vigor of the orchestral accompaniments. This program is part of the Teatro Real’s heritage restoration project.