About the work
Tolomeo, re d'Egitto is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, its libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym after Carlo Sigismondo Capece's Tolomeo et Alessandro. It premiered on 30 April 1728 at the King's Theatre in London.
Plot
Banished from Egypt by his own mother, King Tolomeo begins the opera living unrecognised in exile as a fisherman, while his mother seeks to place his younger brother Alessandro on the throne. Entanglements of love, disguise and recognition eventually lead to reconciliation and Tolomeo's return to the throne.
Cultural significance
Tolomeo was Handel's last opera for the first Royal Academy of Music and the last in which he wrote jointly for the rival prima donnas Cuzzoni and Faustina. The work blends pastoral elements with dynastic opera seria and was revived by Handel in a revised version in 1730.