Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos and the Search for an Affective Practice
Mark Tatlow
Chapter from the book: Schneider M. & Wagner M. 2023. Performing the Eighteenth Century: Theatrical Discourses, Practices, and Artefacts.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Schneider M. & Wagner M. 2023. Performing the Eighteenth Century: Theatrical Discourses, Practices, and Artefacts.
This chapter traces the early performance history of Haydn’s 1789 dramatic cantata Arianna a Naxos. The cantata was sung in Vienna by Marianne von Genzinger’s teenage daughter Josepha, in London by the great castrato Gasparo Pacchierotti, in Venice (to a sacred Latin text) by Bianca Sacchetti, and in Eisenstadt by Emma Hamilton, among others. The catalogue of differences exhibited by these early singers demonstrates the huge flexibility of late eighteenth-century vocal performance. This could well be emulated today, the author argues, enabling singers and instrumentalists to adopt an affective practice that ‘tunes’ their performances to our own time.
Tatlow, M. 2023. Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos and the Search for an Affective Practice. In: Schneider M. & Wagner M (eds.), Performing the Eighteenth Century. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bce.f
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Published on June 20, 2023