About the work
Il re pastore is an opera seria by Christoph Willibald Gluck on Pietro Metastasio's 1751 libretto of the same name. It premiered on 8 December 1756 at the Vienna Burgtheater, on the very day Archduke Maximilian Franz, the youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa, was born.
Plot
Alexander the Great frees the Phoenician city of Sidon from tyranny and sets out to install its rightful heir, Abdolonimo, who lives unrecognised as the shepherd Aminta. Once Alexander discovers his true origin, he unites two couples: Aminta with the noblewoman Elisa, and the general Agenore with Tamiri, daughter of the deposed tyrant.
Cultural significance
The lead female roles were sung by the sisters Caterina and Francesca Gabrielli. Almost two decades later, in 1775, the young Mozart set the same text for a visit by the same archduke to Salzburg; Gluck's version stands at the start of that work's history.