Roma antica melodramma

 Ancient Roman history, myth, and politics have served as the single most popular source of inspiration for opera composers. Because 17th- and 18th-century opera seria relied almost entirely on classical antiquity, there are actually hundreds of operas set in ancient Rome. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

To give you a comprehensive look, here are 50 notable operas set specifically during the Roman Kingdom, Republic, or Empire, categorized by their historical eras and figures.

The Roman Kingdom & Mythological Origins (c. 753 BC – 509 BC)

These operas cover Rome's founding, early kings, and the legendary events that led to the overthrow of the monarchy. [1, 2, 3]

1. Il ratto delle sabine (The Rape of the Sabine Women) – Agostino Agazzari
2. The Rape of Lucretia – Benjamin Britten (The tragic event that sparked the birth of the Republic)
3. Lucia Silla – Pasquale Anfossi
4. Numa Pompilio – Ferdinando Paer (About Rome’s second king)
5. Tarquinio il Superbo – Francesco Feo (Focusing on the final, tyrannical Roman king) [1, 3, 4]

The Roman Republic (c. 509 BC – 27 BC)

The era of the Senate, major military conquests, and internal civil wars yielded dozens of dramatic plots. [1]

6. Caio Marzio Coriolano – Attilio Ariosti (The legendary general turned traitor)
7. Virginia – Saverio Mercadante (The political crisis over a plebeian girl)
8. Virginia – Gaetano Donizetti
9. Regulus – Johann Adolph Hasse (The heroic prisoner of the Punic Wars)
10. Scipione – George Frideric Handel (Scipio Africanus during the Carthaginian conquests)
11. Scipione affricano – Francesco Cavalli
12. Il trionfo di Clelia – Christoph Willibald Gluck (The legendary escape of Cloelia across the Tiber)
13. Mitridate – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Rome's war against the defiant King Mithridates)
14. Silla – George Frideric Handel (The bloody dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla)
15. Lucio Silla – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
16. Lucio Silla – Johann Christian Bach
17. Lucio Silla – Pasquale Anfossi [1, 2, 4, 5]

Julius Caesar & The Fall of the Republic (c. 49 BC – 27 BC) [1, 2, 3]

The transition from Republic to Empire centers heavily on Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. [1, 2]

18. Giulio Cesare in Egitto – George Frideric Handel (Caesar's Egyptian campaign)
19. Giulio Cesare – Francesco Cavalli
20. Catone in Utica – Antonio Vivaldi (Cato the Younger's final stance against Caesar)
21. Catone in Utica – Johann Adolph Hasse
22. Die Ermordung Cäsars – Giselher Klebe (The assassination of Julius Caesar)
23. Cleopatra – Johann Mattheson
24. Antony and Cleopatra – Samuel Barber (The final civil war of the Republic) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 BC – 68 AD) [1]

The lives of Rome's first emperors provided opera houses with plenty of madness, poisoning, and political intrigue. [1, 2]

25. Ottone in Villa – Antonio Vivaldi (The future emperor Otho before his brief rule)
26. L'incoronazione di Poppea – Claudio Monteverdi (The masterpiece tracking Emperor Nero and Poppaea)
27. Agrippina – George Frideric Handel (Agrippina plotting to put her son Nero on the throne)
28. Nerone – Arrigo Boito (Covers the Great Fire of Rome)
29. Nerone – Claudio Monteverdi (An early, distinct sketch on Nero)
30. Nerone – Alessandro Stradella
31. Nerone – Pietro Mascagni
32. Caligola – Giovanni Maria Pagliardi (The infamous, mad emperor) [1, 2, 3]

The Flavian & Antonine Dynasties (69 AD – 192 AD) [1]

From the destruction of Pompeii to the height of the Pax Romana. [1]

33. L'ultimo giorno di Pompei – Giovanni Pacini (The final day before Vesuvius erupted)
34. Tito e Berenice – Antonio Caldara (The romance between Emperor Titus and a Judean queen)
35. La clemenza di Tito – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Titus dealing with betrayal and choosing mercy)
36. La clemenza di Tito – Christoph Willibald Gluck
37. La clemenza di Tito – Josef Mysliveček
38. Il trionfo di Camilla – Giovanni Bononcini [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Vestal Virgins of Rome

A highly specific but incredibly popular setting focusing on the sacred priestesses of Rome. [1, 2]

39. La Vestale – Gasparo Spontini (A priestess breaks her vows for a Roman general)
40. La vestale – Saverio Mercadante
41. Roma – Jules Massenet (A later late-Romantic take on the Vestals)
42. Vestas Feuer – Ludwig van Beethoven (Unfinished, but set in the temple of Vesta) [1, 3, 4, 5]

Late Empire & The Rise of Christianity (c. 200 AD – 476 AD) [1, 2]

These works deal with the clashes between the pagan Roman state and the early Christian church.

43. Poliuto – Gaetano Donizetti (Christian martyrdom in Roman Armenia)
44. Les Martyrs – Gaetano Donizetti (The grand French revision of Poliuto)
45. Fausta – Gaetano Donizetti (The tragic wife of Emperor Constantine the Great)
46. Herculanum – Félicien David (Set right before the eruption of Vesuvius with heavy early-Christian themes)
47. Polyeucte – Charles Gounod
48. Roma – Henri Février
49. Attila – Giuseppe Verdi (The Huns marching on the crumbling Western Roman Empire)
50. Servilia – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Set during the Christian persecutions under Nero) [1, 2, 3, 4]

Would you like a deeper dive or a plot summary for any specific Roman figure or composer on this list?

can you order chronologicallt 50 operas in Italian on ancient Roma and mention librettist from Romolo onwards if not enea and Ascanio to late empire?a

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Risposta A

Italian librettists and composers built the very foundation of Western opera on the historical and mythological events of ancient Rome.

The following list features 50 operas written in Italian (or with original Italian librettos), ordered strictly by the historical chronology of their settings. The timeline begins with the founding of Rome by Romulus (Romolo), bypassing the Trojan origins of Eneas and Ascanio, and progresses through the Republic, the Early Empire, and the Late Empire. [1, 2, 3]

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I. The Roman Kingdom (c. 753 BC – 509 BC)

Plots center around the founding kings, the Sabine women, and the fall of the early monarchy. [1]

1. Romolo ed Ersilia (Comp: Johann Adolph Hasse, 1765)
   • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
   • Setting: 748 BC. The aftermath of the Rape of the Sabine Women and the peaceful union of the two peoples under King Romulus. [1]
2. Romolo ed Ersilia (Comp: Josef Mysliveček, 1773)
   • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio [1]
3. Il ratto delle Sabine (Comp: Pietro Simone Agostini, 1680)
   • Librettist: Giacomo Francesco Bussani [1]
4. Numa Pompilio (Comp: Ferdinando Paer, 1808)
   • Librettist: Pietro Bagnoli
   • Setting: c. 715 BC. The election and religious reforms of Rome's second king, Numa Pompilius.
5. Tarquinio il Superbo (Comp: Francesco Feo, 1744)
   • Librettist: [Anonymous / Adapted from earlier Venetian texts]
   • Setting: c. 510 BC. The tyrannical rule of Rome’s final king before his expulsion.

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II. The Early & Mid-Republic (c. 509 BC – 100 BC)

Plots cover the birth of the Republic, early wars with neighboring states, and the Punic Wars. [1]

6. Il trionfo di Clelia (Comp: Johann Adolph Hasse, 1762)
   • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
   • Setting: c. 508 BC. The legendary escape of the hostage Cloelia from the Etruscan king Lars Porsena. [1, 2]
7. Il trionfo di Clelia (Comp: Christoph Willibald Gluck, 1763)
   • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio [1]
8. Caio Marzio Coriolano (Comp: Attilio Ariosti, 1723)
   • Librettist: [Nicola Francesco Haym (adapted from Pietro Pariati)](https://imslp.org/wiki/Caio Marzio Coriolano (Ariosti, Attilio))
   • Setting: 488 BC. The exiled general Coriolanus marching an enemy army to the gates of Rome. [1, 2]
9. Virginia (Comp: Gaetano Donizetti, 1866)
   • Librettist: Domenico Gilardoni
   • Setting: 449 BC. The tragic story of Verginia and the overthrow of the corrupt Decemviri council.
10. Virginia (Comp: Saverio Mercadante, 1866)

• Librettist: Salvadore Cammarano

11. Tito Manlio (Comp: Antonio Vivaldi, 1719)
    • Librettist: Matteo Noris
    • Setting: 340 BC. Consul Titus Manlius Torquatus sentencing his own son to death for military disobedience.
12. Attilio Regolo (Comp: Johann Adolph Hasse, 1750)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
    • Setting: 250 BC. First Punic War. General Regulus returns to Rome on parole from Carthage to negotiate peace but urges the Senate to reject it.
13. Scipione (Comp: George Frideric Handel, 1726)
    • Librettist: Paolo Antonio Rolli
    • Setting: 211 BC. Second Punic War. Scipio Africanus shows legendary clemency after capturing New Carthage.
14. Scipione affricano (Comp: Francesco Cavalli, 1664)
    • Librettist: Nicolò Minato
15. Asdrubale (Comp: Niccolò Jommelli, 1741)
    • Librettist: Gaetano Antonio Federico
    • Setting: 202 BC. The closing chapter of the Second Punic War involving Roman generals and Carthaginian royalty.

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III. The Late Republic & The Rise of Caesar (c. 100 BC – 27 BC)

Plots delve into bloody dictatorships, civil wars, and the death of the Senate. [1]

16. Lucio Silla (Comp: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1772)
    • Librettist: Giovanni De Gamerra
    • Setting: 81 BC. The brutal, paranoid dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
17. Lucio Silla (Comp: Johann Christian Bach, 1775)
    • Librettist: Giovanni De Gamerra (revised by Mattia Verazi)
18. Silla (Comp: George Frideric Handel, 1713)
    • Librettist: Giacomo Rossi
19. Mitridate, re di Ponto (Comp: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1770)
    • Librettist: Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi
    • Setting: 67 BC. Rome’s fierce conflict with King Mithridates VI during the Third Mithridatic War.
20. Catone in Utica (Comp: Antonio Vivaldi, 1737)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
    • Setting: 46 BC. Caesar's Civil War. Cato the Younger makes his final, defiant Republican stand in Utica against Julius Caesar.
21. Catone in Utica (Comp: Johann Adolph Hasse, 1744)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
22. Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Comp: George Frideric Handel, 1724)
    • Librettist: Nicola Francesco Haym
    • Setting: 48 BC. Julius Caesar pursues Pompey to Egypt and falls in love with Cleopatra.
23. Giulio Cesare (Comp: Francesco Cavalli, 1646)
    • Librettist: Giacomo Francesco Bussani
24. Cleopatra (Comp: Lauro Rossi, 1876)
    • Librettist: Marco D'Arienzo
    • Setting: 31 BC. The final war of the Republic, tracking Mark Antony and Cleopatra up to their suicides.

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IV. The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 BC – 68 AD)

Plots tracking the decadent, volatile reigns of Rome's earliest Roman Emperors.

25. La vestale (Comp: Saverio Mercadante, 1840)
    • Librettist: Salvadore Cammarano
    • Setting: Late 1st Century BC. A Vestal Virgin breaks her vows of chastity for an elite Roman soldier during the reign of Augustus.
26. Il tempio di Vesta (Comp: Giuseppe Sarti, 1785)
    • Librettist: Giambattista Casti
27. Caligola (Comp: Giovanni Maria Pagliardi, 1672)
    • Librettist: Domenico Gisberti
    • Setting: c. 40 AD. The mad, chaotic imperial court of Emperor Caligula.
28. Agrippina (Comp: George Frideric Handel, 1709)
    • Librettist: Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani
    • Setting: c. 50 AD. Agrippina the Younger plots to secure the throne for her son Nero while Emperor Claudius is away.
29. L'incoronazione di Poppea (Comp: Claudio Monteverdi, 1643)
    • Librettist: Giovanni Francesco Busenello
    • Setting: 62 AD. Emperor Nero casts aside Empress Octavia to crown his mistress Poppaea Sabina.
30. Nerone (Comp: Alessandro Stradella, 1677)
    • Librettist: [Anonymous]
31. Nerone (Comp: Arrigo Boito, 1924)
    • Librettist: Arrigo Boito
    • Setting: 64 AD. The Great Fire of Rome, Nero's madness, and his ultimate undoing.
32. Nerone (Comp: Pietro Mascagni, 1935)
    • Librettist: Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti

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V. The Flavian & Antonine Dynasties (69 AD – 192 AD)

The Golden Age of the Empire, featuring political intrigue and volcanic disasters.

33. Ottone in villa (Comp: Antonio Vivaldi, 1713)
    • Librettist: Domenico Lalli
    • Setting: 68 AD. Otho (before his brief stint as emperor) seeks peace at a country villa amid complex romantic entanglements.
34. L'ultimo giorno di Pompei (Comp: Giovanni Pacini, 1825)
    • Librettist: Andrea Leone Tottola
    • Setting: 79 AD. A judicial conspiracy framed against the backdrop of Mount Vesuvius erupting.
35. La clemenza di Tito (Comp: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1791)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio (revised by Caterina Mazzolà)
    • Setting: 79 AD. Emperor Titus faces an assassination conspiracy organized by his closest friends and chooses mercy.
36. La clemenza di Tito (Comp: Christoph Willibald Gluck, 1752)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
37. La clemenza di Tito (Comp: Antonio Caldara, 1734)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
38. Adriano in Siria (Comp: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, 1734)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
    • Setting: 117 AD. Emperor Hadrian establishes new borders in the East while navigating political and romantic rivalries.
39. Adriano in Siria (Comp: Francesco Maria Veracini, 1735)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
40. Adriano in Siria (Comp: Johann Christian Bach, 1765)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
41. Il trionfo di Camilla (Comp: Giovanni Bononcini, 1696)
    • Librettist: Silvio Stampiglia
    • Setting: 2nd Century AD. Romance and family honor under the reign of the Antonine emperors.

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VI. The Late Roman Empire & Rise of Christianity (c. 193 AD – 476 AD)

Plots follow military anarchy, the conversion to Christianity, and the final fall to foreign invasions.

42. Fausta (Comp: Gaetano Donizetti, 1832)
    • Librettist: Domenico Gilardoni
    • Setting: c. 326 AD. The tragic execution of Empress Fausta, wife of Constantine the Great.
43. Ezio (Comp: George Frideric Handel, 1732)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
    • Setting: 451 AD. Emperor Valentinian III suspects his top general, Aetius (Ezio), of treason after his victory over the Huns.
44. Ezio (Comp: Christoph Willibald Gluck, 1750)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
45. Ezio (Comp: Josef Mysliveček, 1775)
    • Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
46. Poliuto (Comp: Gaetano Donizetti, 1848)
    • Librettist: Salvadore Cammarano
    • Setting: 257 AD. Christian martyrdom in Roman-controlled Armenia during the severe persecutions under Emperor Decius.
47. Marco Visconti (Comp: Errico Petrella, 1854)
    • Librettist: Domenico Bolognese
48. Attila (Comp: Giuseppe Verdi, 1846)
    • Librettist: Temistocle Solera
    • Setting: 452 AD. Attila the Hun invades Italy and marches toward a collapsing Western Roman Empire.
49. Roma (Comp: Henri Février, 1912 - Italian version)
    • Librettist: Henri Caïn (Translated to Italian for local premieres)
    • Setting: c. 216 BC (Historically fits earlier, but written in a late-imperial operatic grand style). A Vestal Virgin seeks to save her homeland. [1, 2]
50. Il Romolo (Comp: Marc'Antonio Cesti, 1667)
    • Librettist: Francesco Sbarra
    • Setting: Cyclical return to the ultimate fate and deification of Romulus as Quirinus.

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If you want to focus on a particular era or need the plot details for any individual opera or librettist listed above, let me know!