About the work
Cesare in Farmacusa is a dramma eroicomico in two acts by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Carlo Prospero Defranceschi, based on an episode in Plutarch and set on the island of Farmakonisi. It premiered on 2 June 1800 at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna.
Plot
The young Julius Caesar falls into the hands of pirates and must assert himself against captivity, intrigue and a romantic entanglement before finally turning the tables on his captors.
Cultural significance
Cesare in Farmacusa was one of the few late works to win Salieri wide popular approval during his own lifetime, and was praised even by the critical Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung. In 1817 Stefano Pavesi reworked the libretto for Milan's La Scala under the title 'La gioventù di Cesare'.