About the work
Siroe (re di Persia) is an opera seria in three acts by Leonardo Vinci to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio. It premiered on 2 February 1726 at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice, with Marianna Benti Bulgarelli and Nicolò Grimaldi in the leading roles — Vinci's first collaboration with Metastasio.
Plot
The Persian king Cosroe wants to make his younger son Medarse his heir instead of the firstborn Siroe, provoking resistance. Princess Emira, disguised as the page Idaspe and hating Cosroe for killing her father, secretly loves the crown prince Siroe. Plots by Medarse and the spurned Laodice falsely implicate Siroe in a conspiracy against his father, and he is condemned to death; a general only pretends to carry out the sentence, the people rise up, and in the end Cosroe forgives everyone and confirms Siroe as heir, who marries Emira.
Cultural significance
Vinci's setting was so successful that it was added to the end of the Venetian season outside the regular schedule. The libretto went on to be set to music more than 35 times, including by George Frideric Handel (1728) and Johann Adolph Hasse (1733).