About the work
Opera seria in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi to a libretto by Antonio Maria Lucchini, based on an earlier text by Francesco Silvani and Marc'Antonio Ziani (1700). Lucchini moved the story from the Cheruscan leader Arminius to King Pharnaces II of Pontus and placed the feelings within his family at the centre. It was first performed on 10 February 1727 at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice.
Plot
King Farnace is defeated by Roman troops under Pompeo; his mother-in-law Berenice allies herself with Rome against him. Fearing capture, Farnace orders his wife Tamiri to kill their son and herself, a command that is ultimately resolved through mercy and reconciliation.
Cultural significance
Contemporary reports describe the premiere as an unqualified success, and the opera was revived with equal success at the Sporck theatre in Prague in 1730. Vivaldi reworked the opera seven times between 1727 and 1738 for different cities, before it disappeared from the stage for roughly 250 years and was rediscovered only in the last quarter of the twentieth century.