Opera, representation and identity

THE steady cyclical unfolding of the church year, from birth, to death, to resurrection, occasioned most of the music composed and performed at the Habsburg court. Opera also had a fixed role, similarly predictable in time, place and purpose. Although the art form never dealt directly with religion, it enjoined and celebrated virtues that were present in the Catholic liturgy at court, as well as sharing a basic theatricality. At one level, it could offer entertainment, but the control that the court exerted over its nature and development over the thirty years or more either side of 1700 meant that it had an identity that was entirely consonant with political and social values. In that, it was highly peculiar to Vienna.

Its principal language was, overwhelmingly, Italian and most of its practitioners, such as the composers Carlo Agostino Badia (1672–1738), Giovanni Bononcini (1670–1747), Antonio Caldara (c. 1670–1736), Francesco Bartolomeo Conti (1681–1732), Antonio Draghi (1634/6–1700) and Giuseppe Porsile (1680–1750), and the librettists Donato Cupeda (c. 1661– 1704), Nicolo Minato (c. 1630–1698), Pietro Pariati (1665–1733), Silvio Stampiglia (1661–1725) and Apostolo Zeno (1668–1750), were attracted to the imperial court because of its long-standing cultural allegiance with Italy. Between them, these eleven individuals were involved in the composition of over 250 operatic works for the Habsburg court, works ranging in scope from one-act compositions, for a few soloists and a small orchestral ensemble, to five-act works, for the full resources of singers, chorus, dancers and large orchestra, and lasting five or more hours. One crucial characteristic of this repertoire was that it was a private one, for the court and its guests and, unlike church music, which willingly embraced the city in its familiar pattern of processions and services, the Vienna court opera did not get beyond the confines of the court, even on the grandest of occasions such as the performances of Angelica, vincitrice di Alcina in 1716. But operatic performances were not a secret: two court newspapers, the Italian Il Corriere ordinario and, from 1703, the German Wienerisches Diarium, regularly reported the operas that were performed and, of greater importance, the occasion that prompted the performance.

Unlike church music, which was a constant daily presence at the court, opera was presented only at specific times of the year.