"La difesa del ciel vince ogni sforza" Symbolical Presentation of the Habsburgs' Dynastic Situation in the Operas Il fuoco eterno custodito dalle Vestali (1674) and Costanza e Fortezza (1723)

Abstract

It is no coincidence that the two most memorable and costly Baroque courtly festivities took place in a period not particularly favourable to the Austrian Habsburgs in terms of the continuation of the dynasty The first of these was in the 1660s and 1670s, when Leopold I had to wait long for his first marriage and even longer for the birth of a son; the second was in the 1720s, when Leopold's son Charles VI, likewise without a male heir, used symbolic self-representation to defend the Pragmatic Sanction Festivities celebrating Leopold's first wedding and later those in honour of Charles VI's coronation as King of Bohemia brought about two of the most renowned operatic works of the era performed at the imperial court: Il pomo d'oro (The Golden Apple) and Costanza e Fortezza (Constancy and Strength) respectivelyThese two operas, however, overshadow a number of others no less interesting works, including Il fuoco eterno custodito dalle Vestali (The Eternal Fire Protected by Vestal Virgins), written and performed in 1674 to celebrate Leopold's second marriage to Claudia Felicitas of Austria Although this work is Il pomo d'oro's equal in terms the spectacular scenery, its importance was downplayed by the fact that Leopold's second marriage did not have the same international political and dynastic implications as the first; it was concluded in haste no later than half a year after the death of Leopold's first wife, Margarita Theresa Intense desire for offspring is prominently featured in both operas as Leopold was still the only living male of the Austrian Habsburgs In terms of subject matter and symbolism, however, they differ significantly Il fuoco eterno custodito dalle Vestali presents the monarch in a way which is surprisingly closer to an opera written half-century later, Costanza e FortezzaThe paper analyses and compares these two works, focusing on the symbolic narrative of both stories in relation to the political context Both works use motifs different from those typically used to present the monarch and the dynasty, the typical motifs being taken from Classical mythology and the Roman Empire The monarch is often presented as Jupiter, Apollo, a mythical hero -Hercules in particular was a Habsburg family symbol -or as of one of the Roman emperors These two operas, however, turned to history rather than mythology Moreover, the plot was set in the Roman Republic, which did not allow presenting the emperor as a sovereign ruler, god or not even a hero with / ARTICLES / IRENA VESELÁ 228 OPERA HISTORICA • ROČNÍK 23 • 2022 • č. 2Antonio Draghis "Il Fuoco eterno custodito dalle Vestali", Wien 1996 (Master's thesis) Kihs draws on the Seifert and thoroughly analyses the text of the libretto and interprets the allegories regarding Leopold I and Claudia Felicitas, taking into consideration the music as well However, she does not analyse the opera with regard to the international political situation of the era Such focus was taken