About the work
L'Olimpiade is an opera seria in three acts by Josef Mysliveček, based on Pietro Metastasio's libretto about the ancient Olympic Games, first set by Antonio Caldara in 1733. The premiere took place on 4 November 1778 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, on the nameday of the former king Charles III of Spain.
Plot
Megacle enters the Olympic Games at Sicyon under a false identity to win the hand of Princess Aristea — assuming the name of his friend Licida, who is in turn in love with the disguised Argene. The mix-up spins a web of misunderstanding and jealousy that is resolved only once all identities are revealed and two suicide attempts are prevented, clearing the way for both weddings.
Cultural significance
Contemporary critics singled out Mysliveček's setting of the aria "Se cerca, se dice" for the castrato Luigi Marchesi as one of the finest treatments of this often-set text. After decades of neglect, the opera was widely noted for its 2013 rediscovery at Prague's Estates Theatre under Václav Luks, since also staged in Caen, Dijon and Luxembourg.