Category:Tigranes the Great--fiction (subject)

Survey of fictional works on Tigranes the Great.

Overview

Tigranes might be the "Nebuchadnezzar" of the Book of Judith, whose invasion threatened the independence of the Judean State and was opposed only by the courage of a devout and strong widow (Judith = Salome Alexandra).

In Armenia Tigranes has never ceased to be celebrated in the arts as a hero of national pride and independence. With the renewed independence of the Armenian Republic in 1991, the figue of Tigranes has gained, if possible, even more relevance in Armenian culture and public life. In 1991 the play “Agony of Tigranes the Great” (1991) staged at Yerevan by actor Vartan Garniki, based on a patriotic poem of Hovhannes Shiraz (1915-1984) was celebrated as one of a landmarks in the awakening of Armenian national pride. To Tigranes the Great the new State has dedicated a monumental statue at Yerevan, a golden coin (1999), and a stamp (2007).

In the West, Tigranes knew a brief period of revival and popularity only at the turn of the eighteenth century. He was the protagonist of Il Tigrane, re d’Armenia / Tigranes, King of Armenia, a libretto written by Francesco Silvani in 1691 and revised by Carlo Goldoni in 1741. Between 1691 and 1766, the libretto was set to music by more than 20 composers, including Tomaso Albinoni, Antonio Vivaldi, Adolph Hasse, Christoph Gluck, Niccolò Piccinni, and others. The fictional story, however, focused on the love relationship between the Armenian king and his wife Cleopatra, the daughter of Mithridates, and did not contain any reference to the military campaign of Tigranes in Phoenicia and Judea.

[NOTE – Contrary to what is often claimed, Il Tigrane; ovvero, L’egual impegno d’amore e di fede (Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, 1715) by Alessandro Scarlatti (with libretto of Domenico Lalli [pseud. for Sebastiano Biancardi]) does not deal with the same subject but with the sixth-century BCE Armenian King Tigranes. The same libretto was set to music by Tomaso Albinoni, under the title L’amor di figlio non conosciuto (Teatro Sant’Angelo, Venice 1715).]