[ LISTENING GUIDE ] CAVALLI’S LA CALISTO
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Discover the music of La Calisto with this listening guide, to prepare for your visit this summer to the Théâtre de l’Archevêché.
— Act I, Scene 2: ‘Dunque Giove immortale’ (Calisto)
Calisto makes her first appearance on stage in the second scene of the first act, with one of the opera’s most famous arias, in which she laments nature ravaged by fire. While wandering through the forest, she encounters Jupiter, whose advances she rejects. Cavalli flexibly uses stile recitativo and dance-like rhythms to highlight the nymph’s mocking refusal: ‘Addio mio vago!’ (‘Goodbye, pretty one!’) she exclaims, and then moves off and leaves the stage with two verses (stanze) and a refrain, in which she declares her wish to die a virgin (‘Verginella io morir vò!’) — referencing her vow of chastity as a companion of Diana.
— Act I, Scene 14, ‘Numi selvatici’ (Pane)
At the end of the first act, three woodland deities lament. Pan, half-man, half-beast, is in love with Diana, but she has rejected him in favour of Endymion. Cavalli highlights this grotesque character’s lovelorn despair in a parodic lamento. Pan is then joined by two other woodland spirits — Silvanus (the god of the woods) and a small satyr — who are pursuing Lympha, a companion of Calisto, with ardour. In this final scene, Silvanus and the satyr comfort their friend in a madrigal-like duet. Cavalli’s writing here is typical of the old rustic style: the interventions of the trio formed by Pan and his companions, though at times sorrowful, offer a comic counterpoint amidst the tragedy unfolding for Calisto.
— Act III, Scene 1: ‘Restino imbalsamate’ (Calisto)
Calisto awaits Diana — with whom she is now in love — at the meeting place arranged by Jupiter, who has deceived her by taking on the appearance of the goddess of the hunt. Trapped in a tragic spiral, the beautiful and graceful Calisto experiences the pain of loving and longing in this grand, virtuosic monologue. The role of Calisto — a sensitive and noble character with a delicate vocality — is marked by an elevated poetic style, frequently convoking metaphors of nature that foreshadow her final metamorphosis. Here, she calls upon the fountains, the echo and the river Ladon as witnesses to her love — and this song of the natural elements is reflected in the orchestral part (sinfonia). Calisto’s aria conveys the nymph’s impatience and the intensity of her desire to be reunited with Diana (‘Moro nella tardanza’ — ‘This waiting is killing me’), through myriad sensuous and expressive figures.
See you soon, under the starry Aix-en-Provence sky!
