Unbekannte Brünner Oratorien Neapolitanischer Komponisten vor 1740

Abstract

An unprecedented upsurge of the Italian oratorio was experienced in Brno, South Moravia, in 1720s and 1730s, testified by 49 extant oratorio libretti of local origin. Productions of these musical pieces were organized mainly by Count Wolfgang Hannibal Schrattenbach, Olomouc bishop and former viceroy of Naples; hence the considerable number of otherwise unknown compositions by Neapolitan composers on the repertoire (Porpora, Vinci etc.). On the basis of a number of case studies, the present paper aims at describing the textual history of the selected librettos and scores, offering a hypothesis concerning their origin, and outlining the generic overlap between opera and oratorio as musical genres. Attached is the list of all known oratorios produced in Brno before 1740.

Keywords

• libretto
• oratorio
• pasticcio
• borrowed aria
• Brno
• Olomouc