page_title: Olimpie
section_title: The work and its performance history
hierarchical_section_title: Olimpie / The work and its performance history
caption_attribution_description: English: Sketch of the décor for Act I of Spontini's opera Olimpie for the 1819 premiere production by the Paris Opera
context_page_description: Olimpie is an opera in three acts by Gaspare Spontini. The French libretto, by Armand-Michel Dieulafoy and Charles Brifaut, is based on the play of the same name by Voltaire. Olimpie was first performed on 22 December 1819 by the Paris Opéra at the Salle Montansier. When sung in Italian or German, it is usually given the title Olimpia.
context_section_description: Spontini began composing Olimpie in 1815. It was his third major, 3-act work for the Paris Opera. 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. In its grandiose conception, it appears the musical equivalent of neoclassical architecture." The Parisian premiere received mixed reviews, and Spontini withdrew it after the seventh performance (on 12 January 1820), so he could revise the finale with a happy rather than tragic ending.
  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. E. T. A. Hoffmann provided the German translation of the libretto. This version was first staged on 14 May 1821 at the Königliches Opernhaus, where it was a success. After 78 performances in Berlin, it was given productions in Dresden (12 November 1825, with additions by Carl Maria von Weber), Kassel, Cologne, and Darmstadt (26 December 1858).
  Olimpie calls for huge orchestral forces (including the first use of the ophicleide). The finale of the Berlin version included spectacular effects, in which Cassandre rode in on a live elephant.; Macdonald 2001, p. 871</ref> Thus, like La vestale and Fernand Cortez, the work prefigures later French Grand Opera.
  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. Adolphe Nourrit replaced his father Louis in the role of Cassandre, and an aria composed by Weber was also included. Even in its fully revised form, the opera failed to hold the stage. Audiences found its libretto too old-fashioned, and it could not compete with the operas of Rossini.
  The opera was given in Italian in concert form in Rome on 12 December 1885 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.
caption: Sketch by Ignazio Degotti [fr] of the décor for act 1 of the 1819 production
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