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Pyrrus & Demetrius vs. Pirro e Demetrio

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 12:48 am
by LadyIslay
I believe that this score for Pyrrhus and Demetrius http://imslp.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_and_Demet ... ancesco%29 is just an English version of Alessandro Scarlatti's opera Pirro e Demetrio. The opera was performed in London in 1709, and Nicola Francesco Haym likly provided the singable English translation of the opera. Although it was common to steal musical numbers from other composers operas, I think this is a case of the entire opera being misattributed. I believe John Glenn Paton mentions this specific document (the one I linked to: "Songs in the new opera call'd Pyrrhus and Demetrius") in his book "26 Italian Songs and Arias", so if he thought Haym was the actual composer, he'd probably have said so. Should it be linked to Scarlatti's page for the opera? I'm not actually sure how to go about moving it to the Scarlatti page (http://imslp.org/wiki/Pirro_e_Demetrio, ... ssandro%29) or if I'm allowed to do that...

Re: Pyrrus & Demetrius vs. Pirro e Demetrio

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 2:41 pm
by jossuk
Scarlatti's name seems to be mentioned in small handwriting under the title. According to "A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers ..., Volume 7", by Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans:..."Haym entered into an agreement with Christopher Rich in connection with the opera "Pirro e Demetrio" in 1708. The work was out of Scarlatti, but Haym wrote an overture, adapted the original, and added 18 numbers of his own"...

Re: Pyrrus & Demetrius vs. Pirro e Demetrio

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 3:53 pm
by LadyIslay
You're awesome. :) maybe this could be noted on the two pages, as the vocal lines for the arias I looked at appeared to be intact, so they are great cross-references to one another.