IL GIUSTINO Vivaldi – Drottningholm Court Theatre

Il Giustino relates the appearance of the goddess Fortune to the peasant Giustino, his rise to leadership of the Byzantine army and the defeat of a Scythian army under Vitaliano, and the jealousy of the emperor Anastasio, who suspects Giustino of having designs on his wife Arianna and on the throne itself. Will all the intrigues be foiled, the misunderstandings straightened out for a peasant to be proclaimed emperor? Il Giustino was originally composed for the 1724 Rome carnevale by Antonio Vivaldi to a libretto by Nicolò Beregan. Vivaldi’s score is full of picturesque detail; a sinfonia accompanying the descent of Fortune in a chariot emphasises the rustic nature of the setting by borrowing the refrain theme of the Spring concerto from his own Four Seasons. The final chorus, an extended chaconne, is the most elaborate piece of its kind in any Vivaldi opera. Staged for the first time in Sweden, Drottningholm’s production is directed for the stage and from the pit by George Petrou with Ukrainia