About the work
Dramma per musica in three acts by Tommaso Traetta after an older libretto by Antonio Maria Lucchini (1724), first performed on 4 November 1751 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. It was Traetta's first commission for that major house and his first opera of consequence altogether — he was 24 at the time.
Plot
After a defeat at the hands of the Roman general Pompeo, King Farnace of Pontus finds himself caught between his wife Tamiri and her mother Berenice, Queen of Cappadocia, both hostile toward him over past wrongs and political pressures. Only after intrigue, jealousy and plans for revenge play out does Pompeo's clemency lead to a reconciled ending for the family.
Cultural significance
The success of Il Farnace at the Teatro San Carlo established Traetta's reputation as an opera composer and opened the way to the major Italian stages of the following decades. The Farnace story had already been set many times in the eighteenth century, most famously in Vivaldi's opera of the same name from 1727.