About the work
"Temistocle" is a melodramma in two acts by Giovanni Pacini to Pietro Metastasio's libretto, adapted for 1820s stage requirements by Pietro Anguillesi. It premiered in July 1823 at the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, with Claudio Bonoldi in the title role and Benedetta Rosmunda Pisaroni as Serse; a performance in Livorno followed the same year.
Plot
Heavily fictionalized, the opera tells of the historical general Themistocles, who flees to the Persian court after being ostracized from Athens. There he is caught between the Persian king's wish to use his military skill against his own homeland and his continuing loyalty to Athens.
Cultural significance
By choosing a Metastasio text, Pacini in 1823 still stood firmly in the tradition of Neapolitan-style opera seria, before turning in the following years to increasingly dramatic subjects such as "Saffo".