About the work
Radamisto is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel and his first opera for the newly founded Royal Academy of Music. Nicola Francesco Haym based the libretto on Domenico Lalli's "L'amor tirannico" (1712), itself derived from Georges de Scudéry's play "L'amour tyrannique" (1638). The premiere took place on 27 April 1720 at the King's Theatre in London, in the presence of King George I.
Plot
Blinded by passion, the Armenian king Tiridate desires Zenobia, wife of the Thracian prince Radamisto, and wages war on his kingdom to have her. Zenobia and Radamisto escape captivity only through disguise and cunning, while Tiridate's own wife Polissena is torn between loyalty and despair. In the end the couple's magnanimity brings Tiridate to his senses; he begs forgiveness and frees his prisoners.
Cultural significance
The premiere was a major success, running to ten performances in its first season and establishing Handel's reputation as the new Academy's leading composer. Because of a change of cast, two distinct versions of the opera exist (HWV 12a and 12b); it also produced "Ombra cara", one of the arias most admired by Handel's contemporaries and by later audiences alike.