(It.: ‘theatrical celebration’).
A title applied to a dramatic work. Although attempts have been made to identify them as members of a single, distinct genre, feste teatrali fall into two quite distinct classes: operas and serenatas (see Serenata). When divided into acts, as in Marazzoli’s Gli amori di Giasone e d’Isifile (1642, Venice) and Cesti’s Il pomo d’oro (1668, Vienna), they belong to the first category; when they are undivided or consist of two parts, as in works written for the Viennese court to librettos supplied by Metastasio, Pariati, Pasquini and others, they belong to the second. What operas and serenatas so labelled have in common is that they are presented on stage (unlike most serenatas described merely as ‘drammatico’) and celebrate, often with direct allusions, some important public event such as an imperial birthday or wedding.
The first of Metastasio’s nine serenatas titled festa teatrale by their author was La contesa de’ numi (1729, Rome, music by Vinci); all the rest except La pace fra le tre dee were written for the Viennese court. The last work in the series was Hasse’s Partenope (1767). No librettist after Metastasio appears to have revived the term.
R. Monelle: ‘Gluck and the festa teatrale’, ML, liv (1973), 308–25
J. Joly: Les fêtes théâtrales de Métastase à la cour de Vienne (1731–1767) (Clermont-Ferrand, 1978)
MICHAEL TALBOT