In August 2023, the Innsbruck Early Music Festival featured a performance of a Baroque jewel, the three-act opera La fida ninfa (The faithful nymph), which Antonio Vivaldi premiered on 6 January 1732 in Verona and presented in Vienna on 5 January 1737. The storyline of the work is "typical". There is an evil pirate and a kidnapper, two brothers who were abducted separately, and two young girls and their father - who all tussle about on the isle of Naxos until a happy end is achieved. A great deal of confusion is a matter of course, but the awe-inspiring musical qualities of this work are far greater. The solos and ensemble pieces are of such variety and beauty that the reservations occasionally expressed about high baroque opera are completely unfounded. Here one literally longs for the repeat of the da capo arias with a silent 'sing it again'
