''Mutio Scevola'' or ''Muzio Scevola'' (''Mucius Scaevola'') is an opera ('' drama per musica'') in three acts by the Italian composer

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...

, with a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Nicolò Minato Count Nicolò Minato (b. Bergamo, ca. 1627; d. Vienna, 28 February 1698) was an Italian poet, librettist and impresario. His career can be divided into two parts: the years he spent at Venice, from 1650 to 1669, and the years at Vienna, from 1669 u ...

. It was based on the story of the Roman hero,

Gaius Mucius Scaevola Gaius Mucius Cordus, better known with his later cognomen Scaevola ( , ), was an ancient Roman youth, possibly mythical, famous for his bravery. In 508 BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium, the Clusian king Lars Porsena laid siege to Ro ...

. The opera was first performed at the Teatro San Salvatore, Venice on 26 January 1665 and revived in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

in 1667. The libretto is dedicated to

Philippe Jules Mancini, Duke of Nevers Philippe Jules Mancini, 8th Duke of Nevers (1641–1707) was the nephew of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France immediately after the death of King Louis XIII. He was the brother of the five famous Mancini sisters, who, along with two of ...

, the nephew of Cardinal Mazarin.

Roles

Recordings

*Atto I Scena 7 "Né fastosa allor che ride - Né dolente allor che freme" Cappella Mediterranea, Leonardo García Alarcón, François Joubert-Caillet, Mariana Flores, Anna Reinhold 2014 *"L'aspetto feroce" Giulia Semenzato (soprano), Raffaele Pe (alto) La Venexiana Claudio Cavina 2015

References

''Muzio Scevola''
Opéra Baroque website

External links

''Mutio Scevola'', 1665 libretto
Library of Congress 1665 operas Operas Operas by Francesco Cavalli Italian-language operas {{Italian-opera-stub