Farnace

Don’t let the title fool you—Farnace may be King of Pontus, but the power behind the throne and true engine of Vivaldi’s opera is his mother-in-law, Berenice. She’s never forgiven Farnace’s father for murdering her husband, so when Pontus is defeated by Pompeo she allies herself to Rome, scheming to murder not just Farnace but her daughter Tamiri and grandson too. Somehow Vivaldi and librettist Antonio Maria Lucchini wrestle a happy ending from the ensuing conflict. A mature work composed for Venice’s 1727 carnival season, and revived frequently during the following decade (accounting for several different versions), Farnace is a compelling drama from a composer at his creative peak. Lucchini’s libretto makes the most of the moral and emotional dilemmas of his characters, drawing both Berenice’s implacable rage and Tamiri’s despair—neither woman permitted the male outlets of action or violence—with sympathetic care. Farnace, too, is presented with curious ambiguity—capable of cruelty, but also of devastating grief, showcased in his monumental Act II aria “Gelido in ogni vena”, in which he comes to terms (in painfully, bewilderingly lovely music) with his own horrifying order: his young son must be killed rather than fall into enemy hands. Pompeo’s storming “Sorge l’irato nembo” paints him every inch the Imperial conqueror, while the sober beauty of Tamiri’s “Forse o caro” contrasts with the bitter fury of Berenice’s “Da quel ferro”.