Didone abbandonata

For other operas based on this libretto, see Didone abbandonata (disambiguation).

Didone abbandonata, act 1, scene 5; Francesco Battaglioli (1754)

Didone abbandonata is an opera libretto in three acts by Pietro Metastasio. It was his first original work and was set to music by Domenico Sarro in 1724. The opera was accompanied by the intermezzo L'impresario delle Isole Canarie, also by Metastasio.

During the century that followed it was set more than 50 times by other composers such as Nicola Porpora (1725), Leonardo Vinci (1726), Baldassare Galuppi (1740), Johann Adolph Hasse (1742), Niccolò Jommelli (1747), Tommaso Traetta (1757), Giuseppe Sarti (1762), Niccolò Piccinni (1770), Saverio Mercadante (1823).

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast 1 February 1724
Didone (Dido), Queen of Carthage	soprano	Marianna Benti Bulgarelli
Enea (Aeneas), in love with and loved by Didone	soprano castrato	Nicola Grimaldi
Iarba, King of the Moors, who appears as "Arbace"	contralto	Antonia Merighi
Selene, sister of Dido and secretly in love with Aeneas	soprano	Benedetta Sorosina
Araspe, Confidant of Iarba and lover of Selene	tenor	Annibale Pio Fabri
Osmida, confidant of Dido	soprano	Caterina Leri

Synopsis

Place: Carthage.

External links

• Complete libretto Template:It icon
• Didone abbandonata (Sarro): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project