Queen Maria Casimira had taken up residence in Rome in 1699 following the death of her husband
Jan III Sobieski and her subsequent exile from Poland. Once in Rome she set up a court and became an active figure in the city's musical life. In 1709, Domenico Scarlatti succeeded his father
Alessandro as her court composer. His librettist, Carlo Capece, was her private secretary and court poet. ''Amor d'un'ombra e gelosia d'un'aura'' premiered at Maria Casimira's private theatre in the Palazzo Zuccari in January 1714 and proved to be the last of the several operas which Scarlatti had composed for her. Five months after the premiere, she departed for France, leaving a string of debts behind her. In addition to Scarlatti's opera, the 1714 Carnival opera season in Rome saw the premieres of Caldara's
Tito e Berenice (also with a libretto by Capece) and
Gasparini's
Lucio Papirio (with a libretto by
Antonio Salvi). These two were the result of a competition set by
Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a prominent patron of the arts in Rome. Two rival
academies, the
Accademia degli Arcadi and the
Accademia dei Quirini, were each to sponsor an opera to be performed in the newly renovated
Teatro Capranica. Ottoboni would give a generous gift to the academy which had produced the best one. According to a French correspondent at the time,
Tito e Berenice had considerably less success with the audiences than
Lucio Papirio, but the best opera presented that season was actually ''Amor d'un'ombra e gelosia d'un'aura''. A revised version of the opera with the addition of two arias and two duets composed by
Thomas Roseingrave opened at the
Haymarket Theatre in London on 30 May 1720 under the title
Narciso. Roseingrave also published the overture and arias of the opera, the only vocal music of Scarlatti that was printed in his lifetime. Capece's original libretto was adapted for the London performance by
Paolo Antonio Rolli who eliminated the role of Nicandro. While the cast for the Rome premiere is unknown, the principal roles in the London performance were taken by
Margherita Durastanti (Narciso),
Anastasia Robinson (Eco), Benedetto Baldassari (Cefalo), and
Ann Turner Robinson (Procri). The Haymarket Theatre
Narciso proved to be the last time one of Scarlatti's operas was performed in his lifetime. The discovery of a copy of the manuscript score in the library of
Friedrich Chrysander led to several late 20th and early 21st century revivals. A version using the voices of opera singers but with the characters portrayed on stage by
marionettes was produced in 2002 at the
Besançon International Music Festival. ==References==