About the work
Proserpin is a one-act opera by Joseph Martin Kraus to a libretto by Johan Henrik Kellgren, based on a scenario King Gustav III himself drafted from Philippe Quinault's Proserpine. It premiered on 6 June 1781 at Ulriksdal Palace near Stockholm, but only for a single court performance.
Plot
In Sicily, the mortal Atis falls in love with the goddess Proserpin, daughter of the fertility goddess Ceres, and abandons his fiancée Cyane for her. Pluto, god of the underworld, also desires Proserpin and, with Cyane's help, abducts her to his realm while Sicily searches for her in vain.
Cultural significance
The success of this courtly premiere made Kraus's career: he was appointed vice-Kapellmeister of the Royal Swedish Opera and director of the Royal Academy of Music soon after. Proserpin then went unseen by the public for almost two hundred years, resurfacing only in 1980 at the Drottningholm court theatre.