Romolo ed Ersilia is a three-act opera composed by Johann Adolph Hasse to an Italian-language libretto by Pietro Metastasio. The opera was commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa to celebrate the marriage of her son Leopold to Maria Luisa of Spain. The opera was first performed on 6 August 1765, the day after their wedding, in the court theatre of the Imperial Palace in Innsbruck.Howard, Patricia (2014). The Modern Castrato: Gaetano Guadagni and the Coming of a New Operatic Age. p. 108. Oxford University Press. Lavezzi, Gianfranca (ed.) (2010). Pietro Metastasio: Melodrammi e arie, p. 55 (digital edition). BUR/Rizzoli. The opera received its first performance in modern times in 2011 during the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music.Innsbruck Festival of Early Music Opera Archives. Romolo ed Ersilia
The opera is loosely based on The Rape of the Sabine Women, an episode in the legendary history of Rome, traditionally dated to 750 BC. The opera's main protagonists are Romolo (Romulus, the founder and ruler of Rome) and Ersilia (Hersilia, who became the wife of Romulus).
The same libretto was set eight years later by Josef Mysliveček and again titled Romolo ed Ersilia. The libretto also formed the basis for a 1780 ballet d'action choreographed by Charles Le Picq to music by Martín y Soler and entitled Il ratto delle Sabine.DelDonna, Anthony R. (2016). Opera, Theatrical Culture and Society in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples, pp. 240–241. Routledge. An opera entitled Romolo ed Ersilia is the opera seria which is parodied as the "opera within an opera" in Donizetti's Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 6 August 1765Romolo (Romulus), the king and founder of RomecastratoGaetano GuadagniErsilia, Hersilia, a Sabine princess bethrothed to RomolosopranoAnna de AmicisCurzio, Sabine king and Ersilia's fathertenorDomenico PanzacchiAcronte, a Sabine prince and rejected suitor of ErsiliacastratoGaspare PacchierottiValeria, a Roman noblewoman betrothed to Acronte but abandoned by himsopranoTeresa Dupré née SartoriOstilio, Romolo's friend, in love with ValeriacastratoLuca FabbrisThe people of Rome
Notes
References
External links Libretto (published in Rome, 1765) Manuscript score (on archive.org)