ZELENKA, Gio. Dis.
Title
ZELENKA, Gio. Dis.
Description
ZELENKA, Jan (Lukáš Ignatius) Dismas (b Louňovice pod Blaníkem 1679–d Dresden 1745), [Oratoria]: No 2. Il Serpente del bronzo, III/Z/24/2
D-Dl
Mus. 2358-D-74
Composer
ZELENKA, Gio. Dis.
Uniform Composer
ZELENKA, Jan (Lukáš Ignatius) Dismas (b Louňovice pod Blaníkem 1679–d Dresden 1745)
Title (Catalogo)
[Oratoria]: No 2. Il Serpente del bronzo
Location (1765)
Schranck III; Fach 24; Lage 2
SFL_combination
III/Z/24/2
Scoring (1765)
‘a 5 Voci co’ VVni Vla Oboè e Flauti’
Materials (1765)
Partitura; Parti
Title Partitura
Il serpente del bronzo
Uniform Title
Oratorios
Date (Catalogo)
7 April 1730
RISM Links
Remarks
Bound autogr. score. Parts are missing.
Autogr. title kept with the score reads: Il Serpente | del Bronzo | Cantata Sacra. | fatta nella Capella | Regia in Dresda. | Poësia del S: Palavicini. | Poeta Regio | La Musica del Giov: Disma Ze– | =lenka. Musica di Camera di Re | di Polonia Ellett: di Sassonia. | 1730, 7 d’Avrile| cioe Venerdi Santo.
Opposite (autogr.) Interlocutori: Coro d’ Israeliti | Azaria | Namuel | Egla | Dio. | Mosè.
Dedications: O A M D G B V M OO SS H AA P I R (head of score); A M D G B V M OO SS H AA P I R (concl. of score).
Although the Diarium Missionis reported that an oratorio was heard on Good Friday and Holy Saturday in 1730 (7–8 April), the composer is not named. Fürstenau (II, 41) claimed that in 1730 Caldara’s oratorio Morte e sepoltura de Christo was performed.
Johannes Ágústsson, in ‘The Secular Vocal Collection of Jan Dismas Zelenka’, 11–12, writes that Il Serpente del bronzo was prepared with the expectation that the castrati (among the singers trained in Venice for the revival of the Dresden opera), would perform this work in 1730. Although they were ordered to arrive in Dresden in time for Easter of that year, they did not arrive until June 1730. Thus, it is likely that Zelenka began work on Il Serpente, ‘his first venture into setting music to Italian texts’ with the expectation that it would be sung by this group of Italian-trained singers. Il Serpente del bronzo presented Zelenka with his first opportunity to work with Pallavicini, who not only provided the text, ‘but could also advise [Zelenka] on the specific qualities of the singers, having heard them in Venice on two occasions with a six month interval in 1729.’
Il Serpente del bronzo had more than one performance in Dresden. According to the diary of Saxon Prince Friedrich Christian, Zelenka’s oratorio Il Serpente was heard in the Dresden Catholic court church on Good Friday 1734, and again on Holy Saturday in 1735:
Pour Sa Majesté Le Roy. Suite du Journal.
Le 9.e Avril [1735].
Presque Toute la journée du Samedy Saint fût employée au Service Divin[.] Je me trouvai a l’Eglise depuis les dix heures jusqu’a douze. J’y retournai a deux heures l’apres dine et j’assistai à un Oratoire de la composition de Selenca intitulé Il serpente del bronzo qu’il avoit dejà produit l’année passé. Cet Oratoire ne dura que cinq quarts d’heure.
Translation:
For His Majesty the King. Continuation of the journal
9 April [Holy Saturday 1735]
Almost all of Holy Saturday was given over to Divine Service. I was at the church from ten o’clock until twelve. I returned there at two in the afternoon and heard an oratorio by Zelenka entitled Il serpente di bronzo which he had already produced the previous year. This oratorio lasted only an hour and a quarter. After that I played billiards a little in order to loosen up my legs. Towards 8 o’clock in the evening I returned for the fourth time to the church for the celebration of the Resurrection of the Saviour with the usual formalities. See Stockigt, Ágústsson , ‘Reflections and Recent Findings’, Clavibus unitis 4, p. 33.
In the incomplete catalogue of Maria Josepha the libretto is listed on p. 28 (recent pagination).
Zelenka-Dokumentation, 133, Dok. 53.
In the ‘Catalogo della Musica di Chiesa’ (c1784) score and parts are listed under Oratoria No: 2) Il Serpente del bronzo (III/Z/22/1). On Zelenka’s oratorios see Susanne Oschmann, Zelenka: Seine geistlichen italienischen.
Autogr. title kept with the score reads: Il Serpente | del Bronzo | Cantata Sacra. | fatta nella Capella | Regia in Dresda. | Poësia del S: Palavicini. | Poeta Regio | La Musica del Giov: Disma Ze– | =lenka. Musica di Camera di Re | di Polonia Ellett: di Sassonia. | 1730, 7 d’Avrile| cioe Venerdi Santo.
Opposite (autogr.) Interlocutori: Coro d’ Israeliti | Azaria | Namuel | Egla | Dio. | Mosè.
Dedications: O A M D G B V M OO SS H AA P I R (head of score); A M D G B V M OO SS H AA P I R (concl. of score).
Although the Diarium Missionis reported that an oratorio was heard on Good Friday and Holy Saturday in 1730 (7–8 April), the composer is not named. Fürstenau (II, 41) claimed that in 1730 Caldara’s oratorio Morte e sepoltura de Christo was performed.
Johannes Ágústsson, in ‘The Secular Vocal Collection of Jan Dismas Zelenka’, 11–12, writes that Il Serpente del bronzo was prepared with the expectation that the castrati (among the singers trained in Venice for the revival of the Dresden opera), would perform this work in 1730. Although they were ordered to arrive in Dresden in time for Easter of that year, they did not arrive until June 1730. Thus, it is likely that Zelenka began work on Il Serpente, ‘his first venture into setting music to Italian texts’ with the expectation that it would be sung by this group of Italian-trained singers. Il Serpente del bronzo presented Zelenka with his first opportunity to work with Pallavicini, who not only provided the text, ‘but could also advise [Zelenka] on the specific qualities of the singers, having heard them in Venice on two occasions with a six month interval in 1729.’
Il Serpente del bronzo had more than one performance in Dresden. According to the diary of Saxon Prince Friedrich Christian, Zelenka’s oratorio Il Serpente was heard in the Dresden Catholic court church on Good Friday 1734, and again on Holy Saturday in 1735:
Pour Sa Majesté Le Roy. Suite du Journal.
Le 9.e Avril [1735].
Presque Toute la journée du Samedy Saint fût employée au Service Divin[.] Je me trouvai a l’Eglise depuis les dix heures jusqu’a douze. J’y retournai a deux heures l’apres dine et j’assistai à un Oratoire de la composition de Selenca intitulé Il serpente del bronzo qu’il avoit dejà produit l’année passé. Cet Oratoire ne dura que cinq quarts d’heure.
Translation:
For His Majesty the King. Continuation of the journal
9 April [Holy Saturday 1735]
Almost all of Holy Saturday was given over to Divine Service. I was at the church from ten o’clock until twelve. I returned there at two in the afternoon and heard an oratorio by Zelenka entitled Il serpente di bronzo which he had already produced the previous year. This oratorio lasted only an hour and a quarter. After that I played billiards a little in order to loosen up my legs. Towards 8 o’clock in the evening I returned for the fourth time to the church for the celebration of the Resurrection of the Saviour with the usual formalities. See Stockigt, Ágústsson , ‘Reflections and Recent Findings’, Clavibus unitis 4, p. 33.
In the incomplete catalogue of Maria Josepha the libretto is listed on p. 28 (recent pagination).
Zelenka-Dokumentation, 133, Dok. 53.
In the ‘Catalogo della Musica di Chiesa’ (c1784) score and parts are listed under Oratoria No: 2) Il Serpente del bronzo (III/Z/22/1). On Zelenka’s oratorios see Susanne Oschmann, Zelenka: Seine geistlichen italienischen.
Stamps
Sächs. Landesbibliothek. Depositum der Kath. Hofkirche
Eitner
V. 10 (1904), 337: Zelenka, Johann Dismas [...] In Dresde. kath. Kirche [...] 3 Oratorien [...] 2. Il Serpente de bronzo.
SLB Card Catalog
(Aut. 236) Mus. 2358-D-74<br />
Zelenka, Giovanni Disma:<br />
Oratorio: Il Serpente del Bronzo a 5 voci [mit Orch.] Poesia è del Pallavicini. [Z 61]. C-moll. Part. Dresda 1730 1 Bd. m. 30 St. 4to. Orig. -Mus.-Mscr. Kath. Hofkirche. Stimmen stehen gesondert
Zelenka, Giovanni Disma:<br />
Oratorio: Il Serpente del Bronzo a 5 voci [mit Orch.] Poesia è del Pallavicini. [Z 61]. C-moll. Part. Dresda 1730 1 Bd. m. 30 St. 4to. Orig. -Mus.-Mscr. Kath. Hofkirche. Stimmen stehen gesondert
Status
Score of Il Serpente del bronzo (Mus. 2358-D-74) held by SLUB; 30 parts missing from Dresden.
Identification
ZWV 61
Sort Order
03/24/02
Collection
Citation
“ZELENKA, Gio. Dis.,” Catalogue of the Music Collection of the Dresden Catholic Court Church 1765, accessed July 28, 2024, http://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/hofkirchecatalogo1765/items/show/4371.