Salon d'Hercule - Francesca Caccini : Alcina

Cultural

The first opera composed by a woman! La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina is also the first to evoke the character of the poisonous Alcina and her spells.

On an enchanted island, the knight Ruggiero finds himself torn between two powerful women, both magicians. The beautiful and dangerous Alcina seduces him, then the good fairy Melissa reminds him of his duties. Melissa is in fact the wise Maria Magdalena of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, who commissioned the opera in 1625 on the occasion of the visit of the Crown Prince of Poland, to whom she wished to marry her daughter.

The composer, Francesca Caccini, was an exemplary figure in the musical flowering of the first half of the Italian 17th century. Her graceful art flourished at the Medici court in Florence, where she delighted her contemporaries and was admired for her many musical talents, particularly her singing concerts where she accompanied herself on the lute. Her refined writing enlivens this story of supernatural tone, with melodious arias, character-revealing recitatives and choruses of monsters and enchanted plants.

At the helm of their ensemble I Gemelli, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and Mathilde Étienne lead a cast and musicians well-versed in this repertoire, paying tribute to the beauty of this flourishing music.