Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 16 - Alexander the Great in Opera

  • Edited by Richard Stoneman, University of Exeter
  • Book:
    A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture
    Published online:
    13 January 2022
    Print publication:
    03 February 2022, pp 350-374

  • Summary

    Librettists and composers began to create operas based on Greco-Roman myths in 1598, but operas based on ancient history did not appear until 1643, and Alexander operas not until 1651, when Sbarra’s Alessandro vincitor di se stesso and Cicognini’s Gli amori di Alessandro Magno, e di Rossane were produced. Source materials are problematic for identifying every received title accurately, but clearly the corpus of Alexander operas is large. Pagan divinities appeared in the earliest Alexander operas, particularly in prologues, but this was operatic convention, not because of Alexander’s divinity. Thereafter, Venetian operatic plot formulas often shaped Alexander’s characterisation, as did aristocratic patronage. But because the Alexander historians described so many types of episodes displaying a range of characterisations from magnanimous to vindictive, roles for the operatic Alexander varied widely, as did texts for individual productions. Metastasio’s Alessandro nell’Indie was the most frequently produced Alexander opera, enduring for nearly a century. But after the Napoleonic era production dwindled considerably.