About the work
Ezio is an opera seria by Niccolò Jommelli after the libretto by Pietro Metastasio. It premiered on 29 April 1741 at the Teatro Malvezzi in Bologna – the first of Jommelli's many settings of Metastasio. The libretto had already been premiered in 1728 in Nicola Porpora's setting in Venice and is one of roughly fifty eighteenth-century Ezio operas.
Plot
The opera centres on the Roman general Ezio (Flavius Aëtius), who has defeated the Huns under Attila and returned to Rome, where he sees a rival for his betrothed Fulvia in Emperor Valentiniano. The courtier Massimo instigates an assassination attempt on the emperor and casts suspicion on Ezio; Valentiniano orders his execution, but the order is never carried out. When the people rise up, Ezio saves the emperor's life, leading to reconciliation and his marriage to Fulvia.
Cultural significance
Ezio marked the beginning of Jommelli's long engagement with Metastasio's librettos. The opera stayed in repertoire for decades: further performances are documented in Naples (1748 and 1771), Stuttgart (1758) and Lisbon (1772), reflecting its continued presence at the leading stages and courts where Jommelli worked.