''Elena'' also known as ''Elena e Costantino'' is an 1814 opera semiseria by

Johann Simon Mayr Johann(es) Simon Mayr (also spelled Majer, Mayer, Maier), also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr (14 June 1763 – 2 December 1845), was a German composer. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the ...

to a libretto by

Leone Tottola Andrea Leone Tottola (died 15 September 1831) was a prolific Italian librettist, best known for his work with Gaetano Donizetti and Gioachino Rossini. It is not known when or where he was born. He became the official poet to the royal theatres ...

. The opera premiered in Naples in 1814 and was later adjusted for

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in 1816 where Meyerbeer may have heard it using the same plot in

Emma di Resburgo ''Emma di Resburgo'' (Emma of Roxburgh) is a melodramma ''eroico'' (a heroic, serious opera) in two acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. It was the composer's sixth opera and the third that he wrote for an Italian theatre. The libretto in Italian by Gaetan ...

. Goethe and Zelter's correspondence makes mention of the sextet in Act 2, as reported by

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

.Lorraine Byrne Bodley ''Goethe and Zelter: Musical Dialogues'' 2017 p 238 "In Act Two of Elena, an opera by old Mayr of Bergamo,251 there is said to be a very effective sextet; it is said to be based on a popular Bohemian melody...

Recordings

* Elena Julia Sophie Wagner, Daniel Ochoa, Mira Graczyk, Niklas Mallmann, Markus Schäfer, Simon Mayr Chorus, Concerto de Bassus, Franz Hauk Naxos 2021

References

{{Simon Mayr Operas 1814 operas Operas by Simon Mayr Italian-language operas