About the work
Opera seria by Egidio Duni to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, premiered during the carnival season of 1755 at the Teatro Ducale in Parma – one of around seventy settings of this text composed between 1733 and the early 19th century, among them versions by Vivaldi, Hasse, Pergolesi and Cimarosa.
Plot
At the ancient Olympic Games, Licida competes under a false name on behalf of his friend Megacle to win Megacle's beloved Aristea. Mistaken identities lead to an averted act of patricide before it emerges that Licida is in fact the long-lost son of King Clistene.
Cultural significance
Metastasio's text about friendship, hidden parentage and the ancient Olympic Games was, with around seventy known settings, among the most frequently composed librettos of the opera seria era; Duni wrote his setting at the Parma court, where he served from 1748 as court maestro di cappella and music teacher to the Infanta Isabella.