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Opera Music Plot Synopsis
Mancinelli: Ero e Leandro
Opera in Three Acts by Luigi Mancinelli
Libretto by ``Tobia Gorrio'' (Arrigo Boïto)
Synopsis:
In the first act, the lovers meet at a festival. Leandro,
victor in the
Aphrodisian games both as a swordsman and cytharist, is crowned
by Hero. He
sings two odes borrowed from Anacræon. Ariofarno, the
archon, loves Hero. When
he seeks to turn her from her sacred mission as priestess
of Aphrodite she
spurns his love. She invokes an omen from a sea shell, on
the altar of the
goddess, and hears in it rushing waters and the surging sea,
that will
eventually turn her romance to tragedy. When she kneels before
the statue of
Apollo and pleads to know her fate, Ariofarno, concealed,
answers: "Death."
The second act takes place in the temple of Aphrodite. The
archon claims that he
has been warned by the oracle to reinstate a service in a
town by the sea. He
consecrates Hero to the duty of giving warning of approaching
storms, so that
the raging waters may be appeased by priestly ritual. He offers
to release her
from this task is she will return his love. When she again
spurns him, Leandro
attempts to attack him. For this, the young man is banished
to the shores of
Asia, while Hero sadly pledges herself to the new service.
In the third act, which takes place in a tower overlooking
the Hellespont, Ero
sings of her love for Leandro, punctuated by distant voices
of sailors. As she
sings, she sees him swimming toward her. Leandro emerges from
the sea, climbs
over the rocks to the window, and embraces her. The lovers
sing their ecstasy.
Meanwhile, a storm arises unobserved. The trumpet that should
have been sounded
by Hero is sounded from the vaults beneath the tower. Leandro
throws himself
back into the Hellespont while Ariofarno and his priests chide
Hero for her
neglect as they discover its cause. A thunderbolt shatters
a portion of the
tower, and Leandro's body is disclosed. Hero falls dying to
the ground, while
the archon rages.
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