Facade of the Palazzo Capranica, the 16th-century palace in which the theatre was housed
This is a chronological list of works known to have premiered at the Teatro Capranica in Rome. While the vast majority are
operas, the list also includes
oratorios,
cantatas, and plays.[1] The Capranica was originally built as a private theatre in 1679 and converted into a public theatre in 1694. The theatre was closed from 1699 to 1711 when there was a papal ban on public secular performances in Rome. There were other shorter periods of closure in the 18th and 19th centuries, and it definitively ceased operating as a full-scale theatre and opera house in 1881. In a much altered state, it now serves as a conference and event venue.[2]
Premieres
17th century
Portrait of
Bernardo Pasquini by
Andrea Pozzo. Pasquini's opera Dov'è amore è pietà inaugurated the Teatro Capranica in 1679.
Alessandro Scarlatti's Gli equivoci nel sembiante ovvero L'errore innocente; opera (
dramma pastorale) in 3 acts; libretto by Domenico Filippo Contini; 5 February 1679 (first public performance)
Bernardo Pasquini's L'Idalma, overo Chi la dura la vince; opera (
commedia per musica); libretto by Giuseppe Domenico de Totis; 6 February 1680[4]
Francesco Gasparini's Amor vince lo sdegno ovvero L'Olimpia placata; opera (dramma per musica) in 3 acts; libretto by
Aurelio Aureli; 9 February 1692
Alessandro Scarlatti's Il nemico di se stesso; opera (dramma per musica) in three acts; libretto anonymous; 24 January 1693[5]
Alessandro Scarlatti's La Teodora Augusta (revised version), opera (dramma per musica) in 3 acts; libretto by
Adriano Morselli; 4 January 1693[6]
Lulier,
Gaffi, and
Cesarini's Clearco in Negroponte, opera (dramma per musica) in 3 acts; libretto by Novello de Bonis; 18 January 1695
Alessandro Scarlatti's Il Flavio Cuniberto; opera (dramma per musica) in 3 acts; libretto by
Matteo Noris;
Carnival season, 1696[6]
Bernardo Sabadini's L'Eusonia overo La dama stravagante; opera (dramma per musica) in 3 acts; libretto by Matteo Noris, Carnival season, 1697
18th century
Portrait of the celebrated
castrato singer
Farinelli by
Bartolomeo Nazari. Farinelli sang many times at the Capranica, including the 1728 premiere of L'isola di Alcina composed by his brother
Riccardo Broschi.[7]Caricature of
Gaetano Latilla by
Pier Leone Ghezzi. Latilla's Tito Manlio was one of the last in the
opera seria genre to be premiered at the Capranica. He was the uncle of
Niccolò Piccinni, several of whose comic operas premiered at the Capranica in the late 1760s.Portrait of
Carlo Goldoni by
Alessandro Longhi. Goldoni wrote his 1760 play Pamela Maritata expressly for the CapranicaPortrait of
Valentino Fioravanti by
Achille Talarico. Fioravanti's comic operas, three of which premiered at the Capranica, were typical of the theatre's operatic repertoire in the late 18th century.
Antonio Sacchini and
Giacomo Insanguine's Il monte Testaccio; opera (intermezzi); libretto by Carlo Goldoni; (performed with Goldoni's play La moglie saggia) 8 January 1760[10]
Carlo Goldoni's Pamela maritata; play (prose comedy) in 3 acts; February 1760[11]
Antonio Sacchini's La vendemmia; opera (intermezzo); libretto by Carlo Goldoni; 2 February 1760
Niccolò Piccinni's Il barone di Torreforte; opera (intermezzo farsetta) in 2 acts; libretto anonymous; 10 January 1765
Niccolò Piccinni's La pescatrice ovvero L'erede riconosciuta; opera (intermezzo farsetta) in 2 acts; libretto by Carlo Goldoni; 9 January 1766
Niccolò Piccinni's La baronessa di Montecupo; opera (intermezzo farsetta); libretto anonymous; 27 January 1766
Niccolò Piccinni's La donna di spirito; opera (commedia in musica in 3 acts; libretto by Marcello Bernardini after Goldoni; 13 February 1770
Alessandro Felici's La donna di spirito; opera (farsetta) in 1 act, libretto by Marcello Bernardini; (premiered with Piccinni's La donna di spirito) 13 February 1770
Giovanni Paisiello's Semiramide in villa; opera (intermezzo) in 2 acts; libretto anonymous (parody of
Metastasio's Semiramide riconosciuta); Carnival season, 1772[12]
Giuseppe Gazzaniga's La finta folletto o Lo spirito folletto; opera (opera buffa) in 2 acts; libretto anonymous; 29 December 1778
Gaetano Monti's La contadina accorta opera (intermezzo) in 2 acts; 4 January 1781
Angelo Tarchi's Le cose d'oggi giorno divise in trenta tomi, tomo primo, parte prima; opera (intermezzo); libretto anonymous; 26 December 1784
Vincenzo Fabrizi's La sposa invisibile; opera (farsetta); libretto anonymous; 20 February 1786
Vincenzo Fabrizi's La nobiltà villana; opera (opera buffa); libretto anonymous; 30 January 1787
Valentino Fioravanti's Il fabbro parigino o sia La schiava fortunata; opera (opera buffa) in 2 acts; libretto by
Luigi Romanelli; 9 January 1789
Valentino Fioravanti's La famiglia stravagante; opera (opera buffa) in 2 acts; libretto by
Giuseppe Petrosellini; 3 February 1792
Valentino Fioravanti's La cantatrice bizarra; opera (opera buffa) in 2 acts; libretto anonymous; 26 December 1795
References
Notes
^The theatre has sometimes been erroneously listed in older sources as the premiere venue for works which actually premiered at the
Teatro Valle, another theatre owned by the Capranica family. An example of this is Piccinni's L'americano, which the 2001 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and Casaglia list as having premiered at the Teatro Capranica. However, the libretto printed for the premiere states: "da rappresentarsi nel Teatro alla Valle degl'illustrissimi signori Capranica". See Lungi; Libby et al. pp. 708–715; Polzonetti p. 170.