Description
On 10 May 1740, the birthday opera Argenore by Wilhelmine of Bayreuth (1709-1758) was to be premiered at the Margrave's Theatre in Bayreuth - a celebration that never took place. The gloomy dramma per musica opera, in which only one character who has been exiled survives and King Argenore rules with unprecedented cruelty, unmistakably reflects the composer's life circumstances. The unwanted princess at the Prussian court, the arbitrariness of her father Frederick William I and the conflict-ridden relationship with brother Frederick II are expressed in King Argenore and the prodigal son Eumenes/Ormondo.
Musically, the opera is characterised by the expressive keys of the sympathetic characters and the prominent role of Ormondo with six arias.
In 2022, the Gottingen Baroque Orchestra took on Argenore for the first time in a world shaken by a pandemic and war and showed how the authoritarian behaviour of its king - fuelled by fake news - leads to ruin. Although the performance was well received, there was also a desire for a compact new version: the Italian recitatives were replaced by a fictitious German-language monologue by Marlene Streeruwitz for today's listening habits, while all the arias were retained in the original, allowing the dramatic power of Wilhelmine's music to shine through undiminished.
