About the work
Il trionfo di Clelia is a three-act opera seria by Christoph Willibald Gluck on Pietro Metastasio's libretto, which Johann Adolph Hasse had already set in Vienna in 1762. Gluck wrote his version for the opening of the newly built Teatro Comunale in Bologna, where it premiered on 14 May 1763.
Plot
The action takes place in 508 BC in an Etruscan camp outside Rome. The Roman hostage Clelia swims across the Tiber to slip back into the besieged city, but out of honour returns voluntarily to King Porsenna. Her steadfastness moves Porsenna to turn from Rome's enemy into its ally, while the deposed tyrant Tarquinius tries to exploit the situation for his own ends.
Cultural significance
Rebuilt by architect Antonio Galli Bibiena after fire destroyed its predecessor, the Teatro Malvezzi, in 1745, the Teatro Comunale opened with this performance before an audience of about 1,500 and remains Bologna's opera house today. Metastasio's libretto went on to receive around ten further settings up to 1787, among them one by Niccolò Jommelli.