About the work
Arminio is a three-act opera seria by Johann Adolph Hasse on a libretto by Giovanni Claudio Pasquini — a different text from the one Antonio Salvi had written for Hasse's earlier Arminio, premiered in Milan in 1730. This version was first performed on 7 October 1745 at the Dresden court theatre in the Zwinger, with a revised version following on 8 January 1753 at the same house.
Plot
The plot draws on the historical victory of the Cheruscan prince Arminius over the Roman legions in 9 AD. Segestes, a Chattian prince allied with Rome, refuses his daughter Tusnelda's betrothal to Arminio, while the Roman governor Varus demands that Arminio marry his sister Marzia to secure peace. After imprisonment and several confrontations, Arminio's military victory settles the conflict, and the survivors are reconciled.
Cultural significance
After Dresden, the opera travelled to Berlin (1746/47 and 1773/74), Vienna (1747), Braunschweig (1747) and Warsaw (1761); in 2016 it received a modern revival in Warsaw by the Orkiestra Historyczna from Katowice.