About the work
Demofoonte, re di Tracia is an opera seria by Carl Heinrich Graun, set to Pietro Metastasio's libretto Demofoonte. It premiered on 17 January 1746 at the Royal Court Opera in Berlin.
Plot
King Demofoonte must sacrifice a virgin to Apollo every year. When it emerges that his supposed son Timante has secretly married Dircea, who is destined for sacrifice, both face death – until it turns out that Timante is not the king's biological son after all, making the marriage lawful.
Cultural significance
With its motif of human sacrifice and a narrowly averted forbidden family union, Demofoonte counts among the darker subjects in Metastasio's librettos; the text was set by numerous composers into the late 18th century.