Juditha triumphans

Place: Teatro Regio Torino. Organizer: Teatro Regio Torino Juditha triumphans | Antonio Vivaldi Devicta Holofernis barbarie It may seem paradoxical, but one of the titles in which it is possible to fully enjoy Vivaldi’s theatrical talent was not conceived for the stage. Juditha triumphans is in fact an oratorio (the only one that has survived by its author), destined for a concert performance. To be precise, a "sacred military oratorio", because it was written in 1716 to celebrate the victory of the Republic of Venice in defending Corfu, a Venetian possession, besieged by the Turks. The biblical episode of Judith beheading Holofernes thus provides the pretext to represent the Venice-Judith, Corfu-Bethulia and Turks-Assyrians allegory. An allegory that becomes, in Vivaldi’s hands, material from which recitatives, arias and choruses in operatic style spring forth, with ever-new freshness. The sumptuousness of the vocal lines is no surprise—all for female voices, therefore partly in travesti—given that the singers of the first performance were the orphans of that Ospedale della Pietà that provided women with an exceptional musical education, and where Vivaldi was just a