About the work
Adriano in Siria is a three-act opera seria on Pietro Metastasio's libretto, originally written in 1732 in Vienna for Antonio Caldara. Johann Adolph Hasse set the text twice: first in 1737 in Vyškov, then in this second version, premiered on 17 January 1752 at the Dresden court theatre in the Zwinger.
Plot
The action is set around 117 AD in Antioch. Emperor Hadrian, betrothed to Sabina, falls in love with the captive Parthian princess Emirena, daughter of the defeated king Osroa, who is herself promised to the Parthian prince Farnaspe. In the end Hadrian overcomes his passion, frees the prisoners and unites Emirena with Farnaspe.
Cultural significance
With more than fifty settings, Metastasio's text ranks among the most frequently used librettos of opera seria; Hasse's two treatments of it, fifteen years apart, show how firmly the text was anchored in the genre's repertoire.