First performance 14 October 1795 Librettist Giovanni de Gamerra | Composer Antonio Salieri Language Italian | |
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Similar Armida, Der Rauchfangkehrer, Axur - re d'Ormus, Les Danaïdes | ||
Palmira, regina di Persia is an opera by Antonio Salieri: more specifically, it is a dramma eroicomico. The opera is in two acts and is set to a libretto by Giovanni de Gamerra.
Contents
Salieri mingled elements of comic opera and heroic opera to produce a work that was a popular success at the time of its first performance, also partly due to the grandiose staging that is called for.
Performance history
The opera was first performed at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna on 14 October 1795, and staged 39 times in the Austrian capital between then and 1798. It was also given in Germany in translation.
Synopsis
Set in ancient Persia, three Kings, arriving variously on a camel, an elephant and a horse, vie for the honour of killing a monster and winning the hand of the Persian princess Palmira.