About the work
Griselda is an opera (dramma per musica) in three acts by Alessandro Scarlatti, with a libretto by Apostolo Zeno. It premiered in January 1721 at the Teatro Capranica in Rome, commissioned by Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli, and is the last of Scarlatti's operas to survive in complete form.
Plot
The Sicilian king Gualtiero marries the humble shepherdess Griselda against his subjects' wishes. To test her loyalty he pretends to repudiate her and presents a young woman as his new queen, who is eventually revealed to be the couple's own daughter, long believed dead. Only after these cruel trials is Griselda restored as queen.
Cultural significance
The score uses no low male voice besides the tenor and favours richly worked orchestration over mere virtuosity. The 1721 premiere, cast entirely with men (five castratos and a tenor), remained a single performance and was never taken up by other houses.