page_title: Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi
section_title: Armida abbandonata
hierarchical_section_title: Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi / For Mantua / Two abortive projects (1627–28) / Armida abbandonata
context_page_description: The Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, in addition to a large output of church music and madrigals, wrote prolifically for the stage. His theatrical works were written between 1604 and 1643 and included operas, of which three—L'Orfeo, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea —have survived with their music and librettos intact. In the case of the other seven operas, the music has disappeared almost entirely, although some of the librettos exist. The loss of these works, written during a critical period of early opera history, has been much regretted by commentators and musicologists.
  Opera, as a musical and theatrical genre, began to emerge during the early part of Monteverdi's career, initially as a form of courtly entertainment. With other composers, he played a leading part in its development into the main form of public musical theatre. His first opera, L'Orfeo, written in 1607 for the Mantuan court, which employed him, was a major success.
context_section_description: (English: "Armida abandoned")
  After the rejection of Licori, Monteverdi did not immediately turn his attention to Armida. Instead, he went to Parma, having been commissioned to provide musical entertainments for the marriage celebrations of the youthful Duke Odoardo Farnese of Parma and Margherita de' Medici. He spent several weeks in Parma working on these; nevertheless, on 18 December 1627 he was able to tell Striggio that the music for Armida had been completed and was being copied. In the relevant section of Tasso's poem, the enchantress Armida lures the noble Rinaldo to her enchanted island. Two knights arrive to persuade Rinaldo to return to his duty, while Armida pleads with him to stay, or if he must depart, to allow her to be at his side in battle. When he refuses and abandons her, Armida curses him before falling insensible.
  Carter indicates several structural similarities to Il combattimento; both works require three voices, one of which acts as the narrator. Despite these similarities, Armida abbandonata, unlike the earlier work, is generally considered by scholars of Monteverdi to be an opera, although Denis Stevens, translator of Monteverdi's letters, has termed it a "parergon" (subsidiary work) to Il Combattimento.
  Plans for Armida's performance were, however, cancelled when Duke Vincenzo died at the end of December 1627. On 4 February 1628, Striggio was still asking for a copy of Armida, perhaps to use in connection with the next duke's coronation. Monteverdi promised to send him one, but there is no confirmation that he did so. No trace of the music has been found, though Tomlinson has deduced some of its likely characteristics from Monteverdi's correspondence, including extensive use of the stile concitato effect. Although there is no record that Armida was ever performed in Mantua, Stevens has mooted the possibility that it may have been staged in Venice in 1628, since Monteverdi's reply to Striggio's February letter indicates that the work was in the hands of Girolamo Mocenigo, a wealthy patron of the arts at whose Venetian palace Il combattimento had been performed in 1624.
  Licori and Armida were Monteverdi's final theatrical works for the Mantuan court. Vincenzo II's death ended the main Gonzaga line; the dukedom was inherited by a distant relative, Charles of Nevers, and Mantua was subsequently engulfed in a series of conflicts, which by 1630 had reduced much of the city to ruins. Monteverdi's last known letter to Striggio is dated 8 July 1628; Striggio died in Venice on 8 June 1630, while heading a mission requesting aid against the armies that were encircling Mantua.
caption: Torquato Tasso, from whose poetic works Monteverdi often found inspiration
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