Il Venceslao

Dramma per Musica in five Acts

Libretto by Apostolo Zeno

Venetian Antonio Caldara was made first deputy kapellmeister of the court music ensemble at Vienna under Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, where he primarily wrote vocal music. He had already been in Vienna for nine years when he wrote the opera "Il Venceslao" in 1725. With a compositional style influenced by both the Venetian and Viennese styles, he makes the Polish ruler Wenceslaus the central figure in the work. The duke’s two sons fall unhappily in love with the same woman. The brothers fight out their rivalry in arias requiring vocal gymnastics verging on the preposterous and have the Polish Orkiestra Historyczna under the baton of Martyna Pastuszka as their seconds.

Concert performance

In Italian with surtitles

Introduction to the work 30 min before the performance

Tickets: Il Venceslao - theater-wien.at