About the work
Semiramide riconosciuta is a three-act opera seria by Baldassare Galuppi on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio. It premiered on 27 January 1749 at the Regio Ducal Teatro in Milan.
Plot
To secure the throne after her husband's death, Queen Semiramide has kept her son Nino, deemed unfit to rule, hidden away and reigns herself disguised as him. When her former suitor Scitalce, who once believed her unfaithful and had her thrown into a river, arrives at court, intrigue and mistaken identity threaten to expose her secret. In the end Semiramide reveals herself, justifies the deception as a service to the state, and is forgiven by her people.
Cultural significance
Metastasio's story of a queen ruling in male disguise remained in demand for decades: Galuppi's setting travelled from Milan as far as Jerez de la Frontera and Valencia in Spain, where it was still staged in the 1770s.