Griselda

On paper it’s an unlikely combination of ingredients: established composer Antonio Vivaldi, ambitious young comic-playwright Carlo Goldoni (best known today as the author of the play that inspired One Man, Two Guvnors) and the brutal story of Patient Griselda from Boccaccio’s The Decameron. But they come together triumphantly in Griselda, a “resounding success” for all concerned at its Venetian premiere in 1735. Griselda, a former shepherdess, is married to King Gualtiero but despised by his courtiers. Compelled to reject her and choose a more fitting wife, the king devises an elaborate and cruel sequence of tests to prove Griselda’s virtue beyond question. Separated from her children, forced to become a servant, offered in marriage to another man, Griselda accepts it all and is restored to the throne. Goldoni’s libretto gives Boccaccio’s uncomplaining Griselda more for a composer to get his teeth into—a figure who endures but also rages against her lot in music specially tailored for the talents of the composer’s protégée, mezzo-soprano Anna Giró. Vivaldi responds to the text with a score that balances graceful beauty, anticipating new musical fashions (Roberto’s “Estinguere vorrei”; Gualtiero’s “Tu vorresti”) with the explosive virtuosity his audiences expected—most strikingly showcased by the villainous Ottone in “Scocca dardi l'altero tuo ciglio” and “Dopo un’orrida procella”, the opera’s best-known aria.