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Ciro riconosciuto is an opera libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio, dating to around 1736.
It deals with the youth of Cyrus the Great and draws on the first book of Herodotus's Histories and Marcus Iunianus Iustinus's extract from the first book of Pompeius Trogus's Historiae Philippicae, along with elements from the sixth and seventh book of Ctesias's Persica and the first book of Valerius Maximus's Historiae. The work's forerunners include 'Amasis by François Joseph de Lagrange-Chancel, in which the inability of parents to recognize their own son also plays an important role.
According to Herodotus, the Median king Astyages had two dreams indicating that he would fall due to a son of his daughter Mandane. He thus ordered his confidant Harpagus (Arpago in the libretto) to kill Cyrus as soon as he was born. Harpagus disobeyed the order but had the shepherd Mithradates (Mithradate in the libretto) leave the infant out on the mountains to die. Mithridates also disobeyed Harpagus' orders - instead he and his wife raised Cyrus as their own son. The libretto's plot begins when Cyrus reaches fifteen.
It has only been set less than thirty times and was performed for the first time on 28 August 1736 at festivities in Vienna for the birthday of Elisabeth Christine, wife of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. At that performance it was set to music by Antonio Caldara. A second setting, by Niccolò Jommelli for Venice, in 1749, was highly esteemed by Metastasio himself, as was the version by Johann Adolph Hasse for Dresden, 1751, in which Hasse's wife Faustina Bordoni played Mandane. Gioacchino Cocchi composed a setting for a London premiere in 1759 - it was considered the composer's best Italian opera. A German translation of the libretto appeared in 1772 under the title of Der erkannte Cyrus in the fourth volume of Johann Anton Koch's unfinished complete edition of Metastasio's works.
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Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.
Johann Adolph Hasse was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a considerable quantity of sacred music. Married to soprano Faustina Bordoni and a friend of librettist Pietro Metastasio, whose libretti he frequently set, Hasse was a pivotal figure in the development of opera seria and 18th-century music.
Carl Heinrich Graun was a German composer and tenor. Along with Johann Adolph Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time.
Giuseppe Bonno was an Austrian composer of Italian origin.
Mandana of Media was a Shahbanu of Media and, later, the Queen consort of Cambyses I of Anshan and mother of Cyrus the Great, ruler of Persia's Achaemenid Empire.
Astyages was the last king of the Median Empire. The son of Cyaxares; he was dethroned in 550 BC by his grandson Cyrus the Great.
Harpagus, also known as Harpagos or Hypargus, was a Median general from the 6th century BC, credited by Herodotus as having put Cyrus the Great on the throne through his defection during the battle of Pasargadae.
L'Olimpiade is an opera libretto in three acts by Metastasio originally written for an operatic setting by Antonio Caldara of 1733. Metastasio’s plot vaguely draws upon the narrative of "The Trial of the Suitors" provided from Book 6 of The Histories of Herodotus, which had previously been the base for Apostolo Zeno's libretto Gli inganni felici (1695). The story, set in Ancient Greece at the time of the Olympic Games, is about amorous rivalry and characters' taking places to gain the loved one. The story ends with the announcement of two marriages.
Demofonte is an opera seria libretto by Metastasio. The libretto was first set by Antonio Caldara in 1733, but remained popular throughout the eighteenth century and was set over seventy times.
Artaserse is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. Artaserse is the Italian form of the name of the king Artaxerxes I of Persia.
The Persian Revolt was a campaign led by Cyrus the Great in which the province of ancient Persis, which had been under Median rule, declared its independence and fought a successful revolution, separating from the Median Empire. Cyrus and the Persians did not stop there, however, and in turn went on and conquered the Medes.
Catone in Utica is an opera libretto by Metastasio, that was originally written for Leonardo Vinci's 1727 opera. Following Vinci's success, Metastasio's text was used by numerous composers of the baroque and classical eras for their own operas, including Pietro Torri (1736), Antonio Vivaldi (1737), Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (1753) and J. C. Bach (1761).
Artaserse is an opera in three acts composed by Leonardo Vinci to an Italian libretto by Metastasio. This was the first of many musical settings of Metastasio's most popular libretto. Vinci and Metastasio were known to have collaborated closely for the world premiere of the opera in Rome. This was the last opera Vinci composed before his death, and also considered to be his masterpiece. It is known among Baroque opera enthusiasts for its florid vocal lines and taxing tessituras. It premiered during the carnival season on 4 February 1730 at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome. As women were banned from the opera stage in Rome in the 18th century, all the female roles in the original production were taken up by castrati. However, subsequent 18th-century productions outside Rome included women in the cast.
Artaserse is an opera in three acts composed by Johann Adolph Hasse to an Italian libretto adapted from that by Metastasio by Giovanni Boldini. It premiered at the Teatro di San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice on 11 February 1730, shortly after the libretto's first setting by Leonardo Vinci premiered in Rome 6 days earlier. Metastasio's libretto, Artaserse, has been used in more than 90 works. Hasse himself would later re-work the score for performances at the Opernhaus am Zwinger in Dresden (1740) and the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (1760).
Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca was an Italian poet and librettist. A student and protégé of Metastasio, he was primarily active in the court theaters of Dresden and Vienna. His most successful work was the libretto for the opera Solimano, first set by Johann Adolph Hasse in 1753 and subsequently set by 18 other composers in the course of the next 50 years.
Ipermestra is an opera libretto by Pietro Metastasio first set by Johann Adolph Hasse 8 January 1744, and in the November of the same year by Christoff Willibald Gluck.
Ipermestra is an opera by Johann Adolph Hasse. It was the first setting of the libretto by Metastasio, itself following in an already long tradition of operas based on Aeschylus' Suppliants. The opera has not received a modern recording, though Max Emanuel Cencic recorded Impermestra's aria "Ma rendi pur contento" on Rokoko - Hasse Opera Arias (2012).
Achille in Sciro is an opera and libretto by Pietro Metastasio telling the story of Achilles on Skyros. It was first set to music by Antonio Caldara in 1736, and premiered at the wedding of Maria Theresa and Francis of Lorraine in Vienna. In 1772, Johann Anton Koch translated the libretto to German under the name "Achilles in Scyro".
Il Ruggiero is an opera in three acts composed by Johann Adolph Hasse to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio. It was first staged on 16 October 1771 for the wedding of Archduke Ferdinand Karl with Maria Beatrice d'Este in the Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan. It was both Metastasio's last libretto and Hasse's last opera, as well as the thirty-second Metastasio libretto Hasse had set to music.
Alessandro nell'Indie is a libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio. It was set to music around ninety times firstly by Leonardo Vinci, whose version premiered in Rome on 2 January 1730. The libretto was the fourth of five that Metastasio wrote for the Teatro delle Dame in Rome between 1727 and 1730. The work was dedicated to the Stuart pretender to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart, then resident in Rome.
