About the work
La Calisto is a Venetian opera (dramma per musica) in a prologue and three acts by Francesco Cavalli, premiered in Venice in 1651. The libretto by Giovanni Faustini draws on Ovid's Metamorphoses and combines mythological eroticism with Baroque wit and melancholy depth.
Plot
The father of the gods, Jupiter, desires the chaste nymph Calisto, a follower of the virgin goddess Diana. Since Calisto rejects him, Jupiter cunningly takes on the form of Diana herself to seduce her. The ensuing confusion—the real Diana secretly loves the shepherd Endymion, and Juno's jealousy flares—leads to a web of desire, deception, and transformation. In the end the innocent Calisto is turned into a bear by the vengeful Juno, but Jupiter consolingly raises her into the sky as the constellation of the Great Bear.
Cultural significance
La Calisto is today Cavalli's most frequently performed opera and a key work of early Venetian Baroque opera. Long forgotten, it enjoyed a brilliant rediscovery in the twentieth century through Raymond Leppard's edition and the early-music movement. The work is striking for its blend of sensual comedy, tender lyricism, and surprising psychological depth, and shows how music theatre in seventeenth-century Venice became a popular art form.