About the work
Tragicomic opera in a prologue and three acts by Antonio Cesti to a libretto by Giovanni Filippo Apolloni, first performed in 1657 at the Innsbruck court theatre. It was the second joint work by Cesti and Apolloni for the court of Archduke Ferdinand Charles, after Cesti had become court Kapellmeister there in 1652 and Apolloni court poet in 1653.
Plot
Searching for her lost lover, Prince Oronte, Dori disguises herself as a male slave named Ali, while her brother Tolomeo poses as a woman named Celinda. The confusion deepens when Dori is unknowingly sold to her own sister Arsinoe. Only an old marriage contract she has kept finally reveals her true identity and resolves the mistaken identities.
Cultural significance
La Dori was one of the most successful operas of its time: at least thirty productions are documented in Italy, Austria and Germany between 1657 and 1689, with the work adapted for different stages, for instance through cut recitatives and new arias for Venice. After lying dormant for centuries, it received its modern stage rediscovery only in 1983 in London.