About the work
Dramma per musica in three acts that Antonio Vivaldi composed in January 1724 for the Teatro Capranica in Rome. It is based on Nicolò Beregan's 1683 libretto, originally written for Giovanni Legrenzi and reworked for Vivaldi's setting.
Plot
The Illyrian peasant Giustino rises through courage and fortune to become co-ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire: he first saves the emperor's sister Leocasta from a bear and later the empress Arianna from a sea monster. Court intrigue and a foiled usurpation accompany his rise, until in the end he marries Leocasta and is proclaimed Caesar.
Cultural significance
The opera fell into obscurity for more than two centuries after its premiere and became accessible again only through a critical edition by the musicologist Reinhard Strohm in 1991; since a series of performances beginning in 1985 it has become one of Vivaldi's regularly staged operas. The aria "Vedrò con mio diletto" in particular became widely known, also as a standalone concert piece.