About the work
Issipile is an opera seria by Johann Adolph Hasse on Pietro Metastasio’s libretto, which draws on the ancient myth of Hypsipyle. Hasse’s setting premiered on 1 October 1732 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples and was revived in 1742 at the city’s newly built Teatro San Carlo.
Plot
On the island of Lemnos, Issipile secretly saves her father, King Toante, from a massacre planned by the island’s women against their returning husbands. Years later her former suitor Learco returns as a pirate and threatens her wedding to the Argonaut leader Giasone, until the entanglements are resolved.
Cultural significance
Metastasio’s text was one of the most frequently set librettos of the 18th century: around 30 settings appeared between 1732 and 1825, including ones by Gluck, Galuppi and Gassmann; a German translation titled "Hypsipyle" was published in 1769.