About the work
Achille in Sciro is an opera seria in three acts by Johann Adolph Hasse, based on Pietro Metastasio's libretto, which numerous composers set to music during the eighteenth century. Hasse's own version premiered on 4 November 1759 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
Plot
The sea goddess Thetis has hidden her son Achilles, whose death before Troy was foretold, as a girl named Pirra at the court of Lycomedes on Skyros, where he falls in love with the king's daughter Deidamia. The Greek envoy Ulysses uncovers the disguise with a ruse: among gifts for the court ladies he places weapons, which Achilles instinctively reaches for. Exposed, Achilles must weigh his love against his duty to join the war.
Cultural significance
Hasse's Naples version dates from one of his last productive periods and was written for the Teatro San Carlo, the leading opera house of southern Italy, adding to a long line of settings of the same Metastasio subject.