About the work
Dramma giocoso in two acts by Vicente Martín y Soler to an original, mythological-pastoral libretto invented by Lorenzo Da Ponte specifically for the work; first performed on 1 October 1787 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, on the occasion of a visit by Archduchess Maria Theresa en route to her wedding in Dresden.
Plot
On an island sacred to the goddess Diana, every nymph must swear an oath of chastity, until the handsome shepherd Doristo, with Cupid's help, tempts Diana herself and brings down her strict laws against love.
Cultural significance
With 65 performances, L'arbore di Diana became the most-performed work at the Vienna Burgtheater of the 1780s, surpassing even Mozart's 'Figaro', 'Don Giovanni' and 'Così fan tutte'; Da Ponte's invented plot — alongside 'Così fan tutte' his only libretto without a literary source — is discussed by scholars as a possible forerunner of that later Mozart libretto.