 la vestale (the vestal virgin) is an opera composed by gaspare spontini to a french libretto by Ãtienne de jouy. it was first performed on 15 december 1807 by the acadÃ©mie impÃ©riale de musique (paris opera) at the salle montansier, and is regarded as spontini's masterpiece.holden, p. 1002 the musical style shows the influence of gluck and looks forwards to the works of berlioz, wagner and french grand opera.holden, pp. 1003â4; wagner conducted la vestale in dresden in 1844 (source:del teatro). ==composition history== spontini had finished la vestale by the summer of 1805 but had faced opposition from leading members of the opÃ©ra and rivalry from fellow composers.del teatro the premiere was made possible with the help of spontini's patron, the empress josephine, but only after being rearranged by jean-baptiste rey and louis-luc loiseau de persuis.castil-blaze 1855, p. 115 la vestale was an enormous success, enjoying over two hundred performances by 1830.barbier p.72 ==performance history== its fame soon spread abroad; it first appeared on the italian stage in naples in 1811, and it was performed in stockholm in 1823. it was premiered in the united states in french at thÃ©Ã¢tre d'orlÃ©ans in new orleans on 17 february 1828.warrack & west 1992, p. 741.important 20th-century revivals include the 1954 production at la scala with maria callas in the title role, which was the first opera staging by the famous film director luchino visconti.del teatro la vestale is famous in historical terms but is only very infrequently performed. two of its arias (translated to italian and recorded by maria callas and rosa ponselle), "tu che invoco" and "o nume tutelar", are better known than the work as a whole. in recognition of its role in the development of richard wagner's third opera, rienzi, it was performed in concert form in dresden's semperoper in the summer of 2013. ==roles== {| class="wikitable" !role !voice typeaccording to anselm, p. 978. !premiere castaccording to the original score, p. 1.15 december 1807(conductor: jean-baptiste rey) |- |licinius, roman general |tenor |Ãtienne lainez |- |cinna, head of a legion |tenor | or lay |- |chief priest |bass |henri-Ãtienne dÃ©rivis |- |julia, young vestal |soprano |alexandrine-caroline branchu |- |the great vestal |mezzo-soprano |marie-thÃ©rÃ¨se maillard |- |chief of the aruspices |bass |duparc |- |a consul |ba
French-language_operas Operas Operas_by_Gaspare_Spontini