About the work
Opera seria in two acts by Luigi Cherubini, setting Pietro Metastasio's libretto "Alessandro nell'Indie" – the composer's last setting of a Metastasio text. It premiered in spring 1784 in Mantua, with the castrato Luigi Marchesi alongside Anna Morichelli and Matteo Babini in the leading roles.
Plot
After the Battle of the Hydaspes, the camps of Alexander the Great and the defeated Indian king Poro face each other. Poro distrusts his beloved Cleofide, who feigns closeness to Alessandro in order to move him to mercy; after intrigue, a foiled assassination attempt and Poro's apparent suicide, Alessandro forgives everyone and lets the couple rule India together.
Cultural significance
Marchesi's rondo "Quanto è fiero il mio tormento" from the opera circulated independently as a virtuoso showpiece for the singer and survives in several ornamented copies; manuscripts of the score are still held today in Dresden, Paris and Vienna.