''Ciro riconosciuto'' is an opera libretto in three acts by

Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of '' opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...

, dating to around 1736.

Sources

It deals with the youth of

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

and draws on the first book of

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

's ''

Histories Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to: * the plural of history * ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus * ''The Histories'', by Timaeus * ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius * ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...

'' and

Marcus Iunianus Iustinus Justin ( la, Marcus Junianus Justinus Frontinus; century) was a Latin writer who lived under the Roman Empire. Life Almost nothing is known of Justin's personal history, his name appearing only in the title of his work. He must have lived af ...

's extract from the first book of Pompeius Trogus's ''Historiae Philippicae'', along with elements from the sixth and seventh book of Ctesias's '' Persica'' and the first book of Valerius Maximus's ''Historiae''. The work's forerunners include Amasis'' by François Joseph de Lagrange-Chancel, in which the inability of parents to recognize their own son also plays an important role. According to Herodotus, the Median king

Astyages Astyages (Median: ; Akkadian: ; Ancient Greek: grc, Αστυαγης, Astuagēs, , romanized: , , romanized: ; la, Astyages, , ; reigned 585–550 BC) was the last king of the Median Empire. The son of Cyaxares; he was dethroned in 550 BC by h ...

had two dreams indicating that he would fall due to a son of his daughter

Mandane : Mandana of Media (Old Iranian: ''Mandanā'') was a Shahbanu of Media and, later, the Queen consort of Cambyses I of Anshan and mother of Cyrus the Great, ruler of Persia's Achaemenid Empire. Etymology The name ''Mandane'' is a Latinized form ...

. He thus ordered his confidant

Harpagus Harpagus, also known as Harpagos or Hypargus (Ancient Greek Ἅρπαγος; Akkadian: ''Arbaku''), was a Median general from the 6th century BC, credited by Herodotus as having put Cyrus the Great on the throne through his defection during the b ...

(Arpago in the libretto) to kill Cyrus as soon as he was born. Harpagus disobeyed the order but had the shepherd Mithradates (Mithradate in the libretto) leave the infant out on the mountains to die. Mithridates also disobeyed Harpagus' orders - instead he and his wife raised Cyrus as their own son. The libretto's plot begins when Cyrus reaches fifteen.

Settings

It has only been set less than thirty times and was performed for the first time on 28 August 1736 at festivities in Vienna for the birthday of Elisabeth Christine, wife of

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor , house = Habsburg , spouse = , issue = , issue-link = #Children , issue-pipe = , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date ...

. At that performance it was set to music by Antonio Caldara. A second setting, by

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...

for Venice, in 1749, was highly esteemed by Metastasio himself, as was the version by

Johann Adolph Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

for Dresden, 1751, in which Hasse's wife

Faustina Bordoni Faustina Bordoni (30 March 1697 – 4 November 1781) was an Italian mezzo-soprano. In Hamburg, Germany, the Johann Adolph Hasse Museum is dedicated to her husband and partly to Bordoni. Early career She was born in Venice and brought up unde ...

played Mandane.

Gioacchino Cocchi Gioacchino Cocchi (''circa'' 1712 – 11 September 1796) was a Neapolitan composer, principally of opera. Cocchi was probably born in Naples in about 1712, although his place of birth has also been given as Padova. His first works were performed ...

composed a setting for a London premiere in 1759 - it was considered the composer's best Italian opera. A German translation of the libretto appeared in 1772 under the title of ''Der erkannte Cyrus'' in the fourth volume of Johann Anton Koch's unfinished complete edition of Metastasio's works.

Sources

*http://www.progettometastasio.it/pietrometastasio/indice_a.jsp {{authoritycontrol Libretti by Metastasio Achaemenid Empire Operas based on real people Cultural depictions of Cyrus the Great category:Operas set in Mesopotamia category:1736 works