About the work
Ezio is an opera seria in three acts by Josef Mysliveček, setting Pietro Metastasio's libretto that had premiered in Venice in 1728 and tells of the Roman general Aëtius after his victory over Attila in 451 AD. Mysliveček's own setting premiered at the Hoftheater in Munich on 10 January 1777.
Plot
The victorious general Ezio returns to Rome and clashes with Emperor Valentinian III, who is courting Ezio's fiancée Fulvia. Falsely accused of an attempt on the emperor's life, Ezio's innocence emerges only after dramatic turns; he saves the emperor, and the couple is finally allowed to marry.
Cultural significance
The reception was mixed: only the castrato Luigi Marchesi's singing impressed the Munich court, while weeks later Mysliveček's own oratorio Isacco, figura del Redentore triumphed at the same theatre. Through this production, Mysliveček helped secure Marchesi's Naples engagement for 1778/79, which established the castrato as one of Italy's leading singers.