About the work
Dramma per musica in three acts by Florian Leopold Gassmann, setting Pietro Metastasio's widely used libretto; it premiered at the Ascension fair season of 1766 at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice. Gassmann travelled back to Venice for the commission after the Viennese theatres had closed for the court's year of mourning following the death of Emperor Francis I.
Plot
To thwart a prophecy, Thetis has disguised her son Achilles as a girl named 'Pirra' at the court of King Lycomedes on Skyros, where he secretly falls in love with Princess Deidamia. When the Greek envoy Ulisse arrives to recruit fighters for the war against Troy, he exposes Achilles' true identity through a ruse, having the sound of battle simulated so the 'girl' instinctively reaches for weapons. Achilles must choose between his love for Deidamia and his duty to Greece; King Lycomedes resolves the conflict by letting him depart for war while betrothing him to Deidamia for his return.
Cultural significance
First set by Antonio Caldara in 1736 for the Viennese wedding of Maria Theresa and Francis of Lorraine, Metastasio's text remained one of the most frequently staged opera seria subjects of the century. Gassmann's setting falls within his most productive Venetian period, shortly before he settled permanently at the Viennese court.