About the work
Artaserse is an opera seria in three acts by Gian Francesco de Majo to Pietro Metastasio's libretto about the Persian succession struggle, one of the most frequently set texts of the eighteenth century, with over 90 known settings. De Majo's version premiered on 20 January 1762 at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice — his first opera for one of the great Italian opera capitals outside Naples.
Plot
After Artabano murders King Serse to secure the Persian throne for his son Arbace, Serse's son Artaserse wrongly has his own brother Dario executed; when Dario's innocence comes to light, suspicion falls on the real culprit, Arbace, the secret lover of Princess Mandane. Only when Arbace kills the scheming adviser Megabise does the truth emerge, and Artaserse pardons Artabano for the sake of his friendship with Arbace.
Cultural significance
Since Leonardo Vinci's first setting of the text in Rome in 1730, dozens of eighteenth-century composers took up the subject, including Hasse, Gluck and Graun; Thomas Arne adapted it in 1762 for his English opera Artaxerxes. De Majo's version dates from the same early period in which he first made a name for himself beyond Naples.