Ravenna Festival
Betulia liberata
azione sacra in due parti KV 118
libretto di Pietro Metastasio
musica di Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(New Mozart Edition, Bärenreiter Kassel)
Riccardo Muti direttore
Marco Gandini regia
Italo Grassi scene
Gabriella Pescucci costumi
Marco Filibeck luci
Ozia Michael Spyres
Giuditta Alisa Kolosova
Amital Marta Vandoni Iorio
Achior Nahuel di Pierro
Cabri Barbara Bargnesi
Carmi Arianna Vendittelli
clavicembalo Speranza Scappucci
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini
Vienna Philharmonia Choir
maestro del coro
Walter Zeh
nuovo allestimento
coproduzione Salzburger Festspiele, Ravenna Festival
When, in 1734, Pietro Metastasio wrote Betulia liberata for the Viennese court, the war of the Polish succession was raging, and the army of Charles vi of Habsburg was defeated in Italy. This called for an action of sacred propaganda, which would sing of Judith’s biblical exploits in releasing the city of Betulia from the Assyrian threat, with the final chorus, “Praise be to God who defeated His impious enemies”. Mozart confronted Betulia liberata in 1771, at the age of 15: seventy-three-year-old Metastasio had just completed his swan-song, Ruggiero; the son of Empress Maria Theresa was going to marry Duchess d’Este, and young Mozart would present him with a serenade, Ascanio in Alba, soon after tackling the old poet’s oratory in Padua, now in peaceful times.
