About the work
Dramma per musica in three acts by Antonio Caldara to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, first performed on 13 February 1736 at the Vienna Hoftheater to mark the wedding of Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen of Lorraine. Caldara set Metastasio's newly written text before any other composer; the ballet music was composed by Nicola Matteis the Younger.
Plot
To avert a prophecy that her son Achilles will die in the war for Troy, his mother Thetis has disguised him as a girl named Pyrrha and hidden him at the court of King Lycomedes on Skyros. There Achilles secretly falls in love with the king's daughter, Deidamia. Ulysses arrives to recruit the young hero for the war and unmasks him through a ruse involving the sound of weapons. Achilles ultimately follows his warrior's destiny and must give up any hope of marrying Deidamia.
Cultural significance
Metastasio's text, subtitled 'dramma immaginato', found only modest favour in his own lifetime but was reset by several later composers into the nineteenth century, including Domenico Sarro (1737) and Niccolò Jommelli (1749). Caldara's premiere, with seven solo voices and chorus, ranked among the most lavish entertainments staged for the imperial wedding festivities of 1736.