About the work
Nitteti is an opera seria by Stefano Pavesi to Pietro Metastasio's libretto, which the poet wrote in 1756 for the Spanish court in Madrid, where it was first set to music by Niccolò Conforto. Pavesi's own setting premiered on 26 December 1811 at the Teatro Regio in Turin.
Plot
For reasons of state, King Amasi of Egypt wants to marry his son Sammete to the supposed princess Nitteti, even though Sammete has pledged his fidelity to the shepherdess Beroe. Only at the end is it revealed that a mix-up over the two young women's true parentage was the real cause of the conflict.
Cultural significance
Metastasio's text subsequently served as the basis for numerous further settings, including those by Niccolò Jommelli, Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Paisiello. Pavesi's version, premiered in Turin in 1811, is among the last major settings of the subject before opera seria disappeared from the stage as a genre.