Francesco Mancini
Il zelo animato overo Il gran profeta Elia
edited by Anthony R. DelDonna
libretto edition by Giacomo Sciommeri

Tomo I (Introduzione e apparato critico; Edizione del libretto): 29,7 x 21 cm; CII pp.
Tomo II (Partitura/Full score): 29,7 x 21 cm; 388 pp.

The present edition is based on the autograph manuscript score, parts and printed libretto of Francesco Mancini's opera Il zelo animato, which was created for performance by the students of the Neapolitan conservatory Santa Maria di Loreto in 1733. The sources of the opera (score, parts and libretto) are located in the Biblioteca del Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella. The drama recounts in three acts the Old Testament narratives presented in Kings I & II, regarding the prophet Elia and his successor Eliseo. The central themes of the libretto preserve Elia's crusade against Acab of Samaria and his wife Jezabelle, who have sanctioned the murder of the prophets in favor of Baale and introduced a multitude of foreign priests. The drama is enhanced through the inclusion of other Old Testament personages, in particular Ocozia, Abdia, Nabot and Benadab. The libretto also features the accretion of comedic characters including the three personages of Tufolo, Masillo, and Renzullo, who speak only in Neapolitan. Mancini's music reflects the Neapolitan stage of the primo Settecento, whether tragic or comic, presenting an array of contemporary musical techniques and styles, including diverse types of recitatives, arias, and ensembles.

Anthony R. DelDonna is the Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music at Georgetown University. He is a specialist in eighteenth-century topics and in particular Italian music, musicians and culture. He earned the Ph.D. in Historical Musicology “with distinction” from The Catholic University of America (1998). His research has focused primarily on the dramatic stage (opera, oratorio, cantata), archival studies, instrumental music and ballet. Prof. DelDonna’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Acta Musicologica, Quaderni del Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella, The Journal of Musicology, Quaderni d'Italianistica, Eighteenth-Century Studies, Early Music, Eighteenth-Century Music, Recercare, Studi musicali and Civiltà musicale as well as numerous essays in scholarly volumes dedicated to the eighteenth century. DelDonna is the author of the monographs Instrumental Music in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples: Politics, Patronage and Artistic Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and Opera, Theatrical Culture and Society in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples published by Ashgate Press (2012); co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Opera (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009); co-editor of Music as Cultural Mission: Explorations of Jesuit Practices in Italy and North America (St. Joseph University Press, 2014; with Anna Harwell Celenza) and editor for Genre and Music in the 18th century (Ann Arbor: Steglein Press, 2008). Together with Antonio Caroccia, DelDonna is publishing the complete works for clarinet by the nineteenth-century virtuoso Ferdinando Sebastiani (1803-1860) for Castejon Music Editions. His critical edition of the oratorio Trionfo per l’Assunzione della Santissima Vergine is published by Fondazione Arcadia (2015). Prof. DelDonna’s forthcoming publications include the critical edition of the opera, La ballerina amante (Opera and libretto) by Domenico Cimarosa and Giuseppe Palomba.

Digital Edition (Support SEdM) 
ISMN: 979-0-705061-37-6

Paper Edition (on demand: www.liberdomus.it) 
ISMN: 979-0-705061-00-7