Armida (Mysliveček)

Armida is an opera in three acts by Josef Mysliveček set to a libretto by Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca based on an earlier libretto by Philippe Quinault. It is one of many operas set at the time of the Crusades that is based on characters and incidents from Torquato Tasso's epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata. This opera (and all the rest of Mysliveček's operas) belong to the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria. It incorporates many elements from the operatic "reform" movement of the 1770s, including short vocal numbers and short choruses incorporated into the fabric of the drama and lavish use of accompanied recitative.

The opera was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 26 December 1779 to open the theater's operatic carnival season of 1780 as one of the earliest operas ever performed there. It was a spectacular failure that necessitated the substitution of many of the arias for works of Giuseppe Sarti and Francesco Bianchi. The first performance of the opera since its first run in Milan took place in Lisbon on 22 May 2015 in the form of a semi scenic version sponsored by the .

There is no reason to believe that an anonymous production of Armida staged in Lucca in 1778 made use of any of Mysliveček's music, in spite of multiple claims in the musicological literature that it constituted the original version of the Milan opera of 1780.

One of the arias substituted out of the production was "Il caro mio bene" (Act III, scene 1), a vocal piece so much admired by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that he arranged it for voice and piano with the new text "Ridente la calma," K. 152 (210a). In this form, it would become one of his most frequently-performed concert arias. The aria was originally sung by Mysliveček's friend and professional collaborator Luigi Marchesi in the role of Rinaldo. The tenor Valentin Adamberger, who would create the role of Belmonte in Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Vienna in 1782, was also present as a cast member.

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Wikipedia