About the work
L’eroe cinese is an opera seria by Johann Adolph Hasse on Pietro Metastasio’s libretto, which draws on a Chinese legend of succession. Hasse dedicated the setting to August III of Poland and Saxony; it premiered on 7 October 1753 at the court theatre of Hubertusburg.
Plot
The minister Leango saves the rightful heir to the throne from assassination by secretly substituting his own son, who is killed in his place. Twenty years later the truth comes to light at the Chinese imperial court, the true heir is recognised, and several couples are united.
Cultural significance
Hasse’s setting was revived in Berlin in 1773 as "Der chinesische Held" and has remained alive into the present: in 1985 Ton Koopman brought the work back to the stage at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam with singers including Max van Egmond and Claron McFadden.