Il Tamerlano

Tragedia per Musica in three Acts 

Libretto by Agostino Piovene

When writing the pasticcio "Il Tamerlano" in 1735 for the Venice carnival, Antonio Vivaldi made use of a musical ruse: He gives the sultan Bajazet and the Ottomans his own arias in the Venetian style, while the "barbarians", the Tartars led by Tamerlano, sing arias in the Neapolitan style of his younger rivals Johann Adolf Hasse, Riccardo Broschi and Geminiano Giacomelli. What Vivaldi intended as a dig at his rivals provides today’s listeners with unadulterated musical pleasure. And Ottavio Dantone, who has assembled a first-class ensemble for "Il Tamerlano", provides a magnificent rendition of baroque music of every style with his Accademia Bizantina.

Concert performance

In Italian with surtitles

Introduction to the work 30 min before the performance

Tickets: Il Tamerlano - theater-wien.at