Performance history
The opera was first performed at the Teatro Nuovo in
Pavia on 24 May 1773. It was commissioned to serve as the first opera to be played in a newly constructed theater in the city, and it was considered to be a great honor for Mysliveček to compose the inaugural opera. The organizers were able to attract only one distinguished singer for the cast, however: the
soprano Lucrezia Aguiari, whose name has been linked romantically to Mysliveček's erroneously in earlier musicological literature. Her aria "Agitata in tanti affanni" was widely disseminated in late eighteenth-century aria collections. ==Roles==
Vocal set pieces
Act I, scene 1 - Aria of Olinto, "Di quell'ingiusto sdegno" Act I, scene 2 - Aria of Cleonice, "Fra tanti pensieri" Act I, scene 3 - Aria of Barsene, "Non ti lagnar del fato" Act I, scene 4 - Aria of Fenicio, "Ogni procella infida" Act I, scene 5 - Aria of Cleonice, "Se non posso su quel trono" [a non-Metastasian text] Act I, scene 6 - Aria of Fenicio, "Il ciel rispetta il soglio" Act I, scene 7 - Aria of Alceste, "Scherza il nocchier talora" Act I, scene 9 - Duet for Cleonice and Alceste, "D'un amoroso accento" [a non-Metastasian text] Act II, scene 2 - Aria of Alceste, "Dal suo gentil sembiante" [a non-Metastasian text] Act II, scene 3 - Aria of Mitrane, "Dice che t'è fedele" Act II, scene 4 - Aria of Cleonice, "Nacqui agli affanni in seno" Act II, scene 5 - Aria of Fenicio, "Alme incaute che torbide ancora" Act II, scene 6 - Aria of Barsene, "So che per gioco" Act II, scene 7 - Aria of Olinto, "Non fidi al mar che freme" Act II, scene 9 - Aria of Alceste, "Non so frenare il pianto" Act II, scene 11 - Aria of Cleonice, "Agitata in tanti affanni" [a non-Metastasian text] Act III, scene 1 - Aria of Cleonice, "Io so qual pena sia" Act III, scene 2 - Aria of Alceste, "Quel labbro adorato" Act III, scene 3 - Aria of Olinto, "Mi chi m'oltraggia" [a non-Metastasian text] Act III, scene 4 - Aria of Fenicio, "Giusti Dei da voi non chiede" Act III, scene 5 - Aria of Barsene, "Semplicetta tortorella" Act III, scene 6 - Chorus, "Quando scende in nobil petto" ==Recordings==
Recordings
• The overture to Mysliveček's Demetrio of 1773 is included in a collection of symphonies and overtures by the composer recorded by the L'Orfeo Barockorchester, Michi Gaigg, conductor, CPO 777-050 (2004). ==See also==