Didone abbandonata

Didone abbandonata Act I, Scene V

Didone abbandonata is an opera libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio. It was his first original work and was set to music by Domenico Sarro in 1724. The opera was accompanied by the intermezzo L'impresario delle Isole Canarie, and also by Metastasio.

During the century that followed it was set more than 50 times by other composers such as Nicola Porpora (1725), Leonardo Vinci (1726), Baldassare Galuppi (1740), Johann Adolph Hasse (1742), Niccolò Jommelli (1747), Tommaso Traetta (1757), Giuseppe Sarti (1762), Niccolò Piccinni (1770), Saverio Mercadante (1823).

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere cast
Didone (Dido), Queen of Carthage
Enea (Aeneas, in love with and loved by Didone
Iarba, King of the Moors, who appears as "Arbace"
Selene, sister of Dido and secretly in love with Aeneas
Araspe, Confidant of Iarba and lover of Selene
Osmida, confidant of Dido

Synopsis

Place: Carthage.

External links