''L'incoronazione di Dario'' (''The Coronation of Darius'') is an opera in three acts composed by

Giacomo Antonio Perti Giacomo Antonio Perti (6 June 1661 – 10 April 1756) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. He was mainly active at Bologna, where he was ''Maestro di Cappella'' for sixty years. He was the teacher of Giuseppe Torelli and Giovanni Bat ...

to an Italian

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Adriano Morselli Adriano Morselli was a Venetian librettist active between 1679 and 1691. His libretti have been set to music by composers like Antonio Vivaldi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Giacomo Antonio Perti, Bernardo Sabadini, Carlo Francesco Pollarolo and Domenico G ...

(revised by Giorgio Maria Raparini). It was first performed on 13 January 1686, at the Teatro Malvezzi in Bologna. Morselli originally wrote the libretto for

Domenico Freschi Giovanni Domenico Freschi (26 March 1634 – 2 July 1710) was an Italian composer and Roman Catholic priest. From the age of 22 until his death he worked as a church musician and composer in Vincenza. He was also active as an opera composer from ...

's opera ''Dario'' which premiered at the

Teatro San Angelo The Teatro San Angelo (in Venetian dialect) or Teatro Sant' Angelo (in Italian) was once a theatre in Venice which ran from 1677 until 1803. It was the last of the major Venetian theatres to be built in the 1650s–60s opera craze following Teatr ...

in Venice in 1685. Other later uses of the libretto include

Giuseppe Aldrovandini Giuseppe Antonio Vincenzo Aldrovandini (also Gioseffo, Giuseppe Maria, Aldovrandini, Aldrovandin, Aldrovandon, Altrobrandino, 8 June 1671 – 9 February 1707) was an Italian baroque music, Baroque composer. Aldovrandini was born and died in Bolog ...

's 1705 ''L'incoronazione di Dario'' (with the libretto revised by Andrea del Pò) and

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

's 1717 '' L'incoronazione di Dario'' (with the libretto revised by an unknown author).

Roles

Dario Dario is a masculine given name, etymologically related to Darius. Given name *Dario Allevi (born 1965), Italian politician *Dario Argento (born 1940), Italian film director * Dario Badinelli (born 1946), Italian triple jumper *Dario Bellezza (1 ...

, ''claimant to the throne of

King Cyrus 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 ...

'' (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

) *Statira, ''daughter of King Cyrus'' (

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

) *Argene, ''daughter of King Cyrus'' (contralto) *Flora (contralto) *Alinda (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

) *Arpago, ''claimant to the throne of King Cyrus'' (soprano) *Oronte, ''claimant to the throne of King Cyrus'' (soprano

castrato A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to ...

) *Ombra di Ciro, ''the ghost of King Cyrus'' (tenor) *Niceno, ''tutor to Statira and Argene'' ( bass) *

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

(bass)

Sources

* *Fantuzzi, Giovanni (1789)
''Notizie degli scrittori bolognesi'', Volume 7
Stamperia di S. Tommaso d'Aquino, pp. 171–172 *Olschki, Leo S. (1979)
''Il teatro musicale di Antonio Vivaldi''
Biblioteca degli Historiae Musicae Cultores, p. 101 Operas Italian-language operas 1686 operas Operas set in ancient Persia Cultural depictions of Darius the Great {{Italian-opera-stub