L´Arbore di Diana

Over het evenement

Vicent Martín y Soler's "dramma giocoso in two acts" on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte will be staged for the first time at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.


 

L'arbore di Diana is an opera buffa in two acts and was performed in 1787, under the patronage of Emperor Joseph II. It was a tremendous success, even more than the three works that Mozart wrote with Da Ponte, and was subsequently staged all over Europe. Though the plot includes features borrowed from the pastorale and erotic comedy, it also had political intentions and endorsed the abolition of convents and monasteries decreed by the emperor.

 

Diana, the goddess of chastity, has a tree in her garden that bears large apples. When one of her nymphs walks beneath it, the apples become shiny and make gentle sounds testifying to her chastity. However, if she has sinned against chastity, the apples turn black and punish her. Love, finding this rule intolerable, enters the garden and shows the gardener how to make the nymphs fall in love. He also brings the shepherd Endymion, of whom Diana herself becomes enamoured. Diana orders the tell‐tale tree to be felled and Love turns her garden into a palace of love.

 

There is widespread agreement among scholars that Diana and the nymphs symbolize nuns and Love is the embodiment of the emperor. There are also similarities with Die Zauberflöte by Schikaneder and Mozart.

 

Enjoy this multi‐faceted work in its first time on the stage of Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu.

 

Stage Director: Francisco Negrín
Set Design: Ariane Isabel Unfried / Rifail Ajdarpasic

Costume design: Louis Désiré
Light Design: Bruno Poet

Musical Director: Harry Bicket

 

Cast in October 2009:

Diana: Laura Alkin (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13) and Ekaterina Lekhina (2, 6, 8, 14)

Amore: Michale Manlacl (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13) and Ana Nebot (2, 6, 8, 14)

 

In some areas of the Gran Teatre del Liceu it is possible to be seated with a partially obstructed view of the stage. The Gran Teatre del Liceu recommends Zone 2 for the finest and completely unobstructed view of the performance.