About the work
Artaserse is an opera seria in three acts by Johann Adolph Hasse, based on Pietro Metastasio's 1730 libretto. This second, revised Hasse setting was first performed on 20 January 1760 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, thirty years after his original 1730 Venice premiere.
Plot
After the murder of King Xerxes, the guard commander Artabano manipulates the young heir Artaserse into having his own brother Dario executed as the supposed culprit. Suspicion later falls on Artaserse's friend Arbace, who behaves suspiciously to protect his father Artabano without revealing the truth. Only after a poisoned cup and a failed coup is Artabano exposed as the true murderer and banished, while Arbace is cleared.
Cultural significance
Metastasio's 1730 text received more than ninety settings during the eighteenth century and is considered his most successful libretto; Hasse's own 1760 Naples version shows the composer returning to the subject three decades after his first setting.