Griselda (Vivaldi)

Griselda
Opera by Antonio Vivaldi
Cover of the libretto for the premiere
Description	drama per musica
Librettist	Carlo Goldoni
Premiere	18 May 1735 (1735-05-18) Teatro San Samuele, Venice

Griselda (Italian pronunciation: [ɡriˈzɛlda]) is a dramma per musica in three acts that was composed by Antonio Vivaldi. The opera uses a revised version of the 1701 Italian libretto by Apostolo Zeno that was based on Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron (X, 10, "The Patient Griselda"). The celebrated Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni was hired to adapt the libretto for Vivaldi. The opera was first performed in Venice at the Teatro San Samuele on 18 May 1735.

Michael Talbot notes that "the particular fame of this opera arises from the fact that it involved a collaboration with Goldoni," although one which was initially fraught with problems, but he goes on to note that the two men eventually worked out an amicable compromise in the revision of an old libretto to fit the vocal limitations of the first Griselda, Anna Girò.

The opera's first modern performance was in concert on 11 May 1978 in the English Bach Festival with John Eliot Gardiner as conductor. The opera was given its UK theatrical premiere on 23 July 1983 as part of the Buxton Festival, while in the US, it was not presented until 2000.

Today, Griselda is rarely performed, but it featured as one of the 2011 festival season presentations of The Santa Fe Opera. Pinchgut Opera (Sydney) staged four performances November–December 2011 in the City Recital Hall and in Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre in June 2012 in concert form with Francesconi, Franco, Nardotto, Bitar, Christensson and Faria conducted by Marco Pace. Two arias from the opera have become popular concert pieces with singers such as Cecilia Bartoli and Simone Kermes. These are "Agitata da due venti" from act 2 and "Dopo un'orrida procella" from act 3.