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Among the dramatic works of Pietro Metastasio libretto “Artaserse” (1730) occupies a leading position in the number of operas created on its basis. Among them is also the first opera-seria in English by Thomas Augustine Arne “Artaxerxes” (1762). The libretto of Metastasio was adapted for the English stage, probably by the composer himself. In the process of working on the libretto, Arne, preserving all the key points, made significant changes in the piece of Metastasio. Obviously a significant reduction of the text of Metastasio, is associated primarily with the exception of Megabise character and all his scenes, which entails underlining non-contentious lyrical plan, and strengthening another character – Rimenes, has incorporated function and part of the party Megabise. The total number of arias almost the same libretto by Metastasio with the change of their distribution characters: cut the Aria of the main character of Artaxerxes, of the secondary of Artabanes and Semira, added arias lyric couple Mandane and Arbaces. As a result, the plot is re – centered in the direction of the drama of lovers, which distinguishes the play of Arne from the original Metastasio-drama of feeling and duty, fully revealed in each character. In this case, arias are differentiated into those close to the original in semantic and textual relations, close in meaning, but inaccurate in text, and those whose content only remotely resembles the original. Arne in most of the arias kept the exact or close to the original text, five arias were removed, three arias were created by the composer. The number of ensembles in the processing of Arne has increased, and principally in the main lyrical pair; a significant innovation is the Quartet, which replaced the complex compositional scene of the judgment. Recitatives and recitative scenes are solved much more concisely, concentrated and restrained in comparison with the text of Metastasio. The changes in the libretto are intensifying as we approach the finale of the Opera – we should talk about the growing dynamization of the action. As a result of the revision of the libretto in the version of Arne, it became much more compact than the original Metastasio, while maintaining all the most significant plot twists. The shift of semantic and functional accents is also carried out by changing the number of solo numbers of the characters. The volume and quality of changes in the source of the libretto suggests that the composer did not plan to write the “next” Italian “Artaserse”, but worked deeply on its text with the aim of the most organic adaptation for the English stage.

INTERPRETATION OF THE LIBRETTO BY PIETRO METASTASIO IN “ARTAXERXES” BY THOMAS AUGUSTINE ARNE