About the work
Europa riconosciuta is an opera seria in two acts by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Mattia Verazi. It inaugurated the newly built Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 3 August 1778, after Christoph Willibald Gluck, originally intended for the opening, withdrew because he was working on his Iphigénie en Tauride.
Plot
Europa, princess of Tyre, is shipwrecked with her husband Asterio, King of Crete, on the coast of her native city, to which she has returned to reclaim the throne from her cousin Semele. The struggle over power and love culminates in a death staged openly before the audience — unusual for opera seria of the period.
Cultural significance
After its opening, Europa riconosciuta quickly fell into neglect and remained unperformed for 226 years, until Riccardo Muti chose it in 2004 to reopen the renovated Scala. The opera departs from several conventions of Metastasian opera seria, including frequent accompanied recitative and through-composed ensemble scenes.