Research Catalog

Title

Il pomo d'oro. [Act I, scene xi] [graphic] / Lodouico Burnacini in. et del. ; Matthæus Küsel sculp.

Author

Küsel, Matthäus, 1629-1681.

Publication

[1668?]

Details

Additional Authors

• Burnacini, Lodovico Ottavio, 1636-1707.
• Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. fnd

Description

1 print : etching, b&w; 33 x 49 cm., image 25 x 43 cm.

Summary

Scene from the Baroque opera Il pomo d'oro, depicting Act I, scene xi, a courtyard in Paris's palace. Paris stands at center stage, flanked by six other men, in an elaborate setting comprising multiple pillars supported by caryatids. In the clouds above him are the three goddesses who have asked him to award the golden apple to the most beautiful among them: Pallas Athena at left, wearing armor and carrying a spear; Juno at center, against a palatial background of caryatids and arches; and Venus at right, borne aloft by putti.

Donor/Sponsor

Dance Committee Purchase Fund.

Subjects

• Etchings
• Opera > 17th century
• Cesti, Antonio, 1623-1669 > Pomo d'oro

Genre/Form

Etchings.

Funding (note)

• Purchased with funds from the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Biography (note)

• Il pomo d'oro (music, Antonio Cesti; libretto, Francesco Sbarra; scenery, Lodovico Burnacini) was a "festa theatrale" commissioned to celebrate the wedding of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I to the Infanta Margherita of Spain in Vienna in 1666. Its performance was postponed because of Margherita's delayed arrival, and because the opera house had not been completed. Performed on July 12 and 14, 1668 at the Hoftheater auf der Cortina in Vienna, it consisted of a prologue and five acts, and ran for more than eight hours. It had more than twenty sets, designed by Burnacini and engraved by Matthäus Küsel for publication in various editions of the libretto. The opera's plot took as its departure point the myth of the judgment of Paris, greatly expanded with many additional scenes and characters. Called the epitome of Baroque opera, it combined theatrical spectacle with an expanded orchestra, numerous ballet scenes, and both comic and serious elements.
• Lodovico Burnacini was an Italian-born theatre architect and stage designer, active in Austria. His sets for Il pomo d'oro, which required sophisticated and innovative theatrical technology, have been called the apogee of Baroque stage design.
• Matthäus Küsel was a member of a German family of engravers. Active in Vienna and Munich, he was appointed engraver to the imperial court. His illustrations for Il pomo d'oro are considered among his most notable achievements.
• This print was probably published as part of the second edition of the libretto of Il pomo d'oro, published in Vienna by Appresso Matteo Cosmerovio in 1668. It reverses and enlarges the image published by the same printer in the first edition of 1667.

Call Number

*MGZFY Kus M Pom 1

OCLC

825069060

Author

Küsel, Matthäus, 1629-1681. Etcher

Title

Il pomo d'oro. [Act I, scene xi] [graphic] / Lodouico Burnacini in. et del. ; Matthæus Küsel sculp.

Imprint

[1668?]

Funding

Purchased with funds from the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Biography

Il pomo d'oro (music, Antonio Cesti; libretto, Francesco Sbarra; scenery, Lodovico Burnacini) was a "festa theatrale" commissioned to celebrate the wedding of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I to the Infanta Margherita of Spain in Vienna in 1666. Its performance was postponed because of Margherita's delayed arrival, and because the opera house had not been completed. Performed on July 12 and 14, 1668 at the Hoftheater auf der Cortina in Vienna, it consisted of a prologue and five acts, and ran for more than eight hours. It had more than twenty sets, designed by Burnacini and engraved by Matthäus Küsel for publication in various editions of the libretto. The opera's plot took as its departure point the myth of the judgment of Paris, greatly expanded with many additional scenes and characters. Called the epitome of Baroque opera, it combined theatrical spectacle with an expanded orchestra, numerous ballet scenes, and both comic and serious elements.

Lodovico Burnacini was an Italian-born theatre architect and stage designer, active in Austria. His sets for Il pomo d'oro, which required sophisticated and innovative theatrical technology, have been called the apogee of Baroque stage design.

Matthäus Küsel was a member of a German family of engravers. Active in Vienna and Munich, he was appointed engraver to the imperial court. His illustrations for Il pomo d'oro are considered among his most notable achievements.

This print was probably published as part of the second edition of the libretto of Il pomo d'oro, published in Vienna by Appresso Matteo Cosmerovio in 1668. It reverses and enlarges the image published by the same printer in the first edition of 1667.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

For a copy of the 1668 edition of the libretto, which contains this plate, see: Spencer Coll. Ger. 1668.

Connect to:

NYPL Digital Collections

Added Author

Burnacini, Lodovico Ottavio, 1636-1707. Artist

Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Funder

Research Call Number

*MGZFY Kus M Pom 1