About the work
Dramma per musica in three acts by Florian Leopold Gassmann, setting Apostolo Zeno's libretto; it premiered during the 1757 carnival season at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice – Gassmann's very first opera, written under the patronage of Count Leonardo Veneri. The score is now considered lost, and only the printed libretto survives.
Plot
Ten years after the murder of her husband, King Cresfonte of Messenia, by the usurper Polifonte, Queen Merope is pressed to marry her husband's killer and so legitimise his rule. Her son Epitide, believed dead, returns in disguise and kills a boar ravaging the land; when Merope mistakes him for her son's murderer, she nearly has him killed before his true identity is revealed at the last moment. Polifonte is overthrown and Epitide restored to the throne.
Cultural significance
Zeno's text, first performed in Venice in 1712, was set more than 30 times, including by Vivaldi, Jommelli and Traetta, and remained one of opera seria's most durable subjects. With this setting, the 27-year-old Gassmann launched his career as an opera composer.