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Ifigenia in Aulide

Description: This is a ca. 1762 copy of the libretto of "Ifigenia in Aulide," by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi, the principal librettist at the Teatro Regio in Turin. Cigna-Santi's libretto is an adaptation of Euripide's story of Ifigenia, the daughter of the king of Argos, Agamemnon. The goddess Diana decreed that Ifigenia had to be sacrificed in order to guarantee fair winds for the king's fleet on their journey to Troy. Achilles, rushed to save Ifigenia, his wedding bride, but Diana, moved by Ifigen… more
Date: 1762
Creator: Cigna-Santi, Vittorio Amedeo.
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Catone in Utica

Description: This is a ca. 1763 copy of the libretto of "Catone in Utica," by Metastasio. Gian Francesco de Majo set this libretto to music for the 1763 carnival season in Turin. In this story, Caesar and Fulvio meet Cato, Utica's ruler, and offer him a peace truce, but Emilia, Pompey's widow, suspects treachery and plots to murder Caesar. Cato rejects a Senate's order for a reconciliation with Caesar and demands that Caesar surrender his dictatorial powers. Marzia, Cato's daughter, promised in marriage t… more
Date: 1763
Creator: Metastasio, Pietro, 1698-1782.
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Arianna e Teseo

Description: Libretto of the opera seria "Arianna e Teseo" by Pietro Pariati. The story unfolds in the island of Crete where several young Athenian men are brought to be ritually sacrificed, and Athenian maidens are to be delivered as victims to a minotaur that lives in a labyrinth. Among the Athenians is Arianna, the daughter of Minos (Minosse), King of Crete, who was abducted as a child by King Aegeus, and Teseo, Aegeus's son. Teseo is determined to kill the minotaur in order to save Arianna's friend Laod… more
Date: 1764
Creator: Pariati, Pietro, 1665-1733
open access

Sofonisba

Description: This is a ca. 1764 copy of the libretto of the opera seria "Sofonisba" by Mattia Verazi. Baldassare Galuppi set this libretto to music for the 1764 carnival season in Turin. Mattia Verazi became a court poet at Mannheim and Stuttgart in 1756. Duke Carl Eugen favored operas with French influence, and Verazi catered to his tastes by providing libretti that deviated from Metastasian opera conventions. In 1762, Verazi and Tommaso Traeta collaborated to create operas following French models. Sofon… more
Date: 1764
Creator: Verazi, Mattia.

Buona figliuola : opera comica

Description: Goldoni turned to Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) as the inspiration for his La buona figliuola. In 1750, he wrote the play Pamela nubile and then turned it into a libretto for Duni. Although Duni’s La buona figliuola (1756) was a failure, Piccinni’s setting in 1760 was a huge success. The hilarious comedy coupled with Piccinni’s sentimental treatment of Cecchina contributed to the popularity of the opera, which still receives performances to this day. Typical of… more
Date: 1767
Creator: Piccinni, Niccolò, 1728-1800; Goldoni, Carlo, 1707-1793 & Richardson, Samuel, 1689-1761
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