From its inception in 1737 through the 1750s, Orazio appeared in several guises. A study of fifteen librettos and two scores shows that a number of arias and other vocal numbers from the earliest version of Orazio were often omitted from later productions. Revivals throughout the 1740s and 1750s often substituted music from other works, consistently retaining only six of the original (1737) vocal numbers. Due to its constant modification, Orazio could be viewed as a single, often misattributed work in several versions or settings of a single text by multiple composers. Pietro Auletta seems to have written the earliest version, which included thirty-four vocal numbers. A version attributed to Gaetano Latilla appears to have been conflated with Pergolesi's Il maestro di musica around 1743, creating a Venetian version that included ten of the original thirty-four vocal numbers. By the late 1740s, Orazio was again attributed to Auletta, but with a severe reduction of his original vocal numbers.

Works: Gaetano Latilla: Orazio (370-72, 374); Pergolesi: Il maestro di musica (370, 374); Latilla and Pergolesi: Orazio (370, 375-77).

Sources: Pietro Auletta: Orazio (370-83); Pergolesi: Il maestro di musica (370, 374).

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Laura B. Dallman