Mele | Júpiter y Calisto

The present volume offers the edition and study of a stage work that had, until now, gone completely unnoticed: the fully sung zarzuela we have entitled Júpiter y Calisto. It is a work with an anonymous Spanish text and music attributable—as we shall argue—to Juan Bautista Mele (ca. 1701–after 1752), a Neapolitan composer active in Madrid between 1732 and 1752. The score, now preserved in the National Library of Portugal, lacks a title page indicating the title, the composer, the librettist, or any other circumstances relating to its composition, performance, or copying. Nor have we found documentation concerning it in public, courtly, or noble theaters.

Nevertheless, the sung text itself provides valuable information that makes it possible to situate the context of its performance with precision. Specifically, three metatheatrical allusions made by the comic character Glauco identify by name the actor who portrayed him—Ignacio Zerquera—and two actresses in the cast—Juana Vázquez and Angela Falchi (“Argentina”). The documented coincidence of these three performers in the Madrid theatrical milieu allows the work to be dated between 1735 and 1737, and more probably to the 1736–1737 season.

Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets, 2 French horns, 2 violins, viola, cello, bc.

Roles:

-Júpiter: soprano.
-Calisto: soprano.
-Diana: soprano.  
-Juno: soprano.
-Mercurio: soprano.
-Doris: soprano.
-Glauco: tenor.
-Arcas: soprano [one recitative].
-Una ninfa: soprano [one recitative].