About the work
Il Tigrane (RV 740) is a pasticcio for the 1724 carnival season at the Teatro Capranica in Rome: Benedetto Micheli composed act one, Antonio Vivaldi act two and Nicola Romaldi act three. The libretto by Pietro Andrea Bernardoni had already been set in Vienna in 1710.
Plot
The plot is freely built around the historical Cleopatra of Pontus, wife of the Armenian king Tigranes: in the libretto her father Mithridates becomes Tigrane's enemy and opposes the couple's love, turning Tigrane into the beset, virtuous hero typical of baroque opera – a dramatic invention with no basis in history, since the real Cleopatra supported her husband.
Cultural significance
Only Vivaldi's second act survives, containing three arias for Cleopatra that trace her path from love to despair; the first and third acts are lost. Catalogued under Vivaldi's work number RV 740, the fragment is still performed and recorded today under the short title 'Il Tigrane'.