About the work
Semiramide riconosciuta is an opera seria in three acts by Leonardo Vinci to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, his second for the Teatro delle Dame in Rome. It premiered on 6 February 1729; that same year Metastasio also allowed Nicola Porpora to produce a parallel setting for Venice.
Plot
Semiramide, daughter of the Egyptian king Vessore, was thrown into the Nile by her former lover Scitalce, who wrongly believed her unfaithful. She survives, becomes the wife of the Assyrian king Nino, and after his death continues to rule disguised as a man under the name of her supposed brother. When several princes, including the unsuspecting Scitalce, gather in Babylon to court Princess Tamiri, Semiramide's true identity comes to light; her subjects acknowledge her wisdom and courage as a ruler.
Cultural significance
The work is one of four Metastasio librettos all first set by Vinci for the Teatro delle Dame (alongside Catone in Utica, Alessandro nell'Indie and Artaserse), a partnership regarded as a model of close text-music collaboration. With fewer than forty later settings, it never matched the popularity of Metastasio's greatest successes.