About the work
Opera seria by Egidio Duni to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, premiered on 27 December 1735 at the Teatro Tordinona in Rome – one of more than sixty settings of this text composed between 1732 and the early 19th century, among them versions by Pergolesi, Hasse and Cherubini.
Plot
Emperor Adriano is betrothed to Sabina but falls in love with the captive Parthian princess Emirena, whose father Osroa plots against his life. In the end duty triumphs over passion: Adriano gives up Emirena, pardons the prisoners and unites Emirena with her betrothed Farnaspe.
Cultural significance
The libretto, with more than sixty known settings, was among the most frequently composed texts of the opera seria era; Duni's version followed little more than a year after the now far better-known setting by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (Naples, 1734), exemplifying how rival composers competed over the same material.