About the work
Partenope is a one-act festa teatrale by Johann Adolph Hasse on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio – the poet’s final work for the stage. Empress Maria Theresia commissioned it to mark the betrothal of Archduchess Maria Josepha to King Ferdinand IV of Naples; it premiered on 9 September 1767 at the Vienna Burgtheater, with sets designed by the Galliari brothers.
Plot
An oracle forces two young couples to swap partners as the city of Naples is being founded, so that the correct bloodlines can unite. In the end a mix-up is resolved: two of the women turn out to have been switched as infants, so the original couples are reunited after all, while the goddess Venus blesses the new city.
Cultural significance
Choosing the founding myth of Naples for the betrothal of the future queen of Naples was a deliberate tribute, but the marriage never took place: Maria Josepha died of smallpox weeks later, and Ferdinand IV instead married her younger sister, Maria Carolina. Metastasio wrote no further work for the stage after this commission.