About the work
Ezio is an opera seria in three acts by Josef Mysliveček, based on Pietro Metastasio's libretto first set by Nicola Porpora in 1728. The premiere took place on 30 May 1775 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, on the nameday of King Ferdinand IV, and was the last of four Naples commissions Mysliveček wrote for the house between 1773 and 1775.
Plot
Against the backdrop of the declining Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the general Ezio and the patrician's daughter Fulvia love each other, but Emperor Valentiniano also desires Fulvia. This triangle drives a conflict between reasons of state, friendship and love that carries the plot to its resolution.
Cultural significance
With the castrato Gaspare Pacchierotti in one of the lead roles, the opera was very well received by the Neapolitan public. Musicologist Daniel E. Freeman later showed that Mozart drew on Mysliveček's music for the same scene, "Misera, dove son?/Ah, non so io che parlo" (K. 369), when composing his own setting. After its premiere the opera fell largely into obscurity and was rediscovered only in Prague in 1937.