About the work
Dramma per musica in three acts by Domenico Sarro to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, first performed on 4 November 1737 to mark the ceremonial opening of the newly built Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, on the name day of King Charles VII of Naples, later King Charles III of Spain. Metastasio's text had already been set by Antonio Caldara in Vienna the previous year.
Plot
To keep the young Achilles away from the looming war at Troy, his mother Thetis has hidden him, dressed as a woman, at the court of King Lycomedes on the island of Skyros. There he secretly falls in love with the king's daughter Deidamia, while jealousy, mistaken identities and the arrival of the Greek envoys Ulysses and Nestor threaten to expose his true identity. In the end Achilles is unmasked, but Lycomedes blesses his union with Deidamia before the young hero sets off to fight at Troy.
Cultural significance
After its premiere the opera was forgotten for more than 250 years and was rediscovered only in 2007, when it was staged at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca; a live recording of that production was released on the Dynamic label. As the opening work of the Teatro di San Carlo, still one of Europe's oldest continuously operating opera houses, Achille in Sciro marks a founding moment in Neapolitan opera history.