Tito Manlio

One of Vivaldi’s finest operas, Tito Manlio was written for the wedding of the governor of Mantua, Prince Philipp of Hessen-Darmstadt, to Princess Eleanora of Guastalla in 1719. The marriage was eventually cancelled, though, and the opera received a more modest production than originally envisaged. Vivaldi proudly recorded on the score that he wrote most of the music in just five days, though he later made a few revisions, including the addition of a comic character—a great rarity in his operas. The plot revolves around the key themes of honour and obedience. Tito Manlio, the Roman consul, swears an oath against the unruly Latins and encourages his son to do the same. But his daughter Vitellia refuses because she loves the Latin captain Geminio. When spying in the enemy camp, Manlio’s son disobeys orders and kills Geminio, for which his father sentences him to death. All parties are eventually reconciled. Since the finances were covered by the Mantuan court, Vivaldi was able to give full rein to his instrumental imagination, writing for pairs of oboes, horns, trumpets, timpani and recorders of all sizes. His musical ambition was spectacular: creating the most virtuosic trumpet arias ever written (“Combatta un gentil cor”), letting the horn loose to roar and caress in the same aria (“Alla caccia”), and underscoring Manlio’s masculinity in concluding aria of triumph scored for two trumpets, two oboes, bassoon, strings and kettledrums (“Dopo si rei disastri”).