About the work
Adriano in Siria is an opera seria by Carl Heinrich Graun, set to Pietro Metastasio's libretto about the Roman emperor Hadrian. It premiered on 7 January 1746 at the Royal Court Opera in Berlin; a revised version followed for the Dresden court in 1752.
Plot
Emperor Hadrian is betrothed to Sabina but falls in love in Antioch with the captive Parthian princess Emirena. Only when he renounces his passion, frees the prisoners, and allows Emirena to marry her betrothed Farnaspe is the conflict between rule and feeling resolved.
Cultural significance
At the centre is a ruler's self-mastery, one of Metastasio's favourite themes; that Graun reworked the piece for Dresden in 1752 shows how closely Prussian opera production was intertwined with neighbouring courts.