Didone abbandonata

Didone abbandonata was Metastasio’s first drama for music. It was performed in Naples in 1724 and subsequently replicated and modified for the most famous Italian theaters. The work’s huge success and the many productions of it in theaters across Europe made it a canonical encounter for many musicians down to the first half of the nineteenth century, albeit with cuts and variations due to changes in the tastes of the opera-going public. This complex and twofold editorial and theatrical adventure is reconstructed in the volume that offers today’s readers the first version of the libretto, rich in dramaturgical and spectacular potential, which was scaled down, though only in part, in subsequent versions.