''Zenobia e Radamisto'' is an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

in 3 acts and nine scenes by composer

Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi (baptized August 12, 1626 – May 27, 1690) was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and ext ...

. The opera uses an Italian language

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 ...

by Ippolito Bentivoglio (1611–1685). The third opera written by Legrenzi, the work premiered on 1 June 1665 at the Teatro Bonacossi in

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

in celebration of the marriage of Nicolò Santini and Maria Luisa Bonvisi. The opera was subsequently mounted in Brescia (1666), Verona (1667), and Macerata (1669). Legrenzi revised the work for the Venice premiere of the opera at the Teatro San Salvatore on 26 December 1667. The revised opera also utilized an altered version of Bentivoglio's libretto by

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 ...

. In 2013 the Italian Academy of Musical Research published the original 1665 version of the libretto and the first critical edition of the score.

Roles

* Tiridate, ''King of Assyria'' *

Radamisto ''Radamisto '' ( HWV 12) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel to an Italian libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, based on ''L'amor tirannico, o Zenobia'' by Domenico Lalli and ''Zenobia'' by Matteo Noris. It was Handel's firs ...

, ''disguised under the name of Creonte, King of Iberia and defeated King of Armenia'' *

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia (Greek: Ζηνοβία, Palmyrene Aramaic: , ; 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner, and she married the ruler of the ...

, ''queen, wife of Radamisto'' *Doriclea, ''also under the name Ismene, Princess of the Parthian Empire'' *Casperio, ''Tiridate's general'' *Egisto, ''Doriclea's squire'' *Oreste, ''Tiridate's captain of the guard'' *Fidalba, ''Zenobia's handmaiden'' *Alceste, ''an Armenian sheppard'' *Ombra d'Armeno, ''Armenian wizard'' *Lico, ''court jester'' *Turpino, ''eunuch'' *Fama *Desiderio *Genio *Captain *Chorus of soldiers and victims of the mina volante

References

External links

English translation of the Italian libretto for Zenobia e Radamisto
* {{Authority control Operas 1665 operas Italian-language operas Operas by Giovanni Legrenzi Operas set in the 1st century Works based on the Annals (Tacitus)