About the work
Adriano in Siria is an opera seria in three acts by Gian Francesco de Majo to Pietro Metastasio's 1732 libretto, set by more than sixty composers during the eighteenth century. De Majo's version premiered during the 1769 carnival season at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome.
Plot
The Roman emperor Adriano falls in love with the Parthian princess Emirena even though he is promised to the Roman noblewoman Sabina; Emirena's father Osroa is also plotting to assassinate the emperor. In the end Adriano gives up Emirena for the sake of duty — she marries the Parthian prince Farnaspe — and pardons Osroa as well.
Cultural significance
Among the best-known settings of the text are those by Pergolesi (1734), Veracini (1735) and Johann Christian Bach (1765); even Beethoven set a single aria from it in his Opus 82. De Majo composed his version in the same year as Didone abbandonata, in the final phase of his career before his early death in 1770.