About the work
Poro, re dell'Indie is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel, its libretto a condensed adaptation of Pietro Metastasio's "Alessandro nell'Indie". It premiered on 2 February 1731 at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, London, shortly after Handel had learned of his mother's death in Halle.
Plot
During his campaign in India, Alexander the Great wars against the local king Poro, who fears for his beloved Cleofide. Poro sneaks in disguise to reach her while his friend Gandarte stands in for him as king; only when Poro reveals his identity at Cleofide's forced wedding to Alexander does Alexander grant the couple their freedom and friendship.
Cultural significance
The opera ran for sixteen consecutive performances, and the historian Charles Burney reported that soon all London was humming its tunes. Metastasio's source text "Alessandro nell'Indie" was set to music more than sixty times during the eighteenth century, and Handel's version remains among the best known.