About the work
Semiramide riconosciuta is an opera seria by Niccolò Jommelli after the libretto by Pietro Metastasio. The premiere of the first version took place in 1742 at the Teatro Regio in Turin; a revised version was given in 1753 at the ducal theatre in Piacenza, and a further performance is documented in Stuttgart in 1762. The libretto had first been set by Leonardo Vinci in Rome in 1729 and achieved average popularity with fewer than forty settings.
Plot
Disguised as a man, Queen Semiramide rules Babylon under the name of her late son Nino, while at her court the Bactrian princess Tamiri must choose a husband among three suitors. Among the suitors are Semiramide's own brother Mirteo, unrecognised by her, and her former lover Idreno, who appears under the name Scitalce and recognises her at once. Tamiri's choice and the gradual unmasking of hidden identities drive the plot through jealousy, disguise and the looming threat of exposure.
Cultural significance
Early in his career, Jommelli took up a story built on disguise, hidden identity and a mother's guilt with Semiramide riconosciuta. That the opera was reworked for Piacenza in 1753 and given again in Stuttgart in 1762 shows that it remained in repertoire for over two decades.