Olimpie
The story takes place in the aftermath of the death of Alexander the Great, who left a vast empire, stretching from Macedonia through Persia to the Indian Ocean.In it, he "combined the psychologically exact character-drawing of La vestale [of 1807] with the massive choral style of his Fernand Cortez [of 1809] and wrote a work stripped of spectacular effects."[2] The Parisian premiere received mixed reviews, and Spontini withdrew it after the seventh performance (on 12 January 1820[3]), so he could revise the finale with a happy rather than tragic ending.[2] The first revised version was given in German as Olimpia in Berlin, where it was conducted by Spontini, who had been invited there by Frederick William III to become the Prussian General Musikdirector.[2] After 78 performances in Berlin,[6] it was given productions in Dresden (12 November 1825, with additions by Carl Maria von Weber),[7] Kassel, Cologne,[8] and Darmstadt (26 December 1858).Spontini revised the opera a second time, retaining the happy ending for its revival by the Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier on 27 February 1826.[2] The opera was given in Italian in concert form in Rome on 12 December 1885[7] and revived more recently in Florence in 1930, at La Scala in Milan in 1966 (for which a sound recording is available), and at the Perugia Festival in 1979.
Gaspare SpontiniArmand-Michel DieulafoyCharles BrifautVoltaireSalle MontansierlibrettoOpéraAlexander the GreatMacedoniaPersiaIndian OceanHis surviving generalsdivided it upCassanderAntigonusAntipaterStatiraRoxanaEphesusAlexander RomanceAmazonsLa vestaleFernand Cortezneoclassical architectureFrederick William IIIPrussianE. T. A. HoffmannKönigliches OpernhausDresdenCarl Maria von WeberKasselCologneDarmstadtophicleideGrand OperaSalle Le PeletierAdolphe NourritRossiniFlorenceLa ScalaPerugiaVoice typeRodolphe KreutzerHenri ValentinosopranoAugustine AlbertLaure Cinti-DamoreauCaroline BranchuCassandreMacedonLouis NourritAntigoneHenri-Étienne DérivisHiérofanteBacchantesTemple of DianaGodefroy EngelmannPilar LorengarFiorenza CossottoGiangiacomo GuelfiNicola ZaccariaFrancesco Molinari-PradelliJúlia VáradyStefania ToczyskaDietrich Fischer-DieskauGerd AlbrechtBerlin Radio Symphony OrchestraRIAS KammerchorKarina GauvinKate AldrichJérémie RhorerBru ZaneJournal des débatsFrançois HabeneckGerhard, AnselmStanley SadieThe New Grove Dictionary of OperaLajarte, ThéodoreMacdonald, HughAmanda HoldenPougin, ArthurF.-J. FétisSonneck, O. G.The Musical QuarterlyHarvard University LibraryInternet ArchiveGoogle BooksBavarian State LibraryGallicaInternational Music Score Library ProjectList of operasLi puntigli delle donneTeseo riconosciutoLa fuga in mascheraLe metamorfosi di PasqualeMiltonJulie, ou Le pot de fleursNurmahal, oder Das Rosenfest von KaschmirAgnes von Hohenstaufen