Argippo
Argippo is an opera libretto by Domenico Lalli, which in Giovanni Porta's setting premiered in Venice in 1717. Claudio Nicola Stampa's reworked version of the libretto was set as L'Argippo by . This opera was performed in Milan in 1722. Antonio Vivaldi's Argippo, RV 697, based on Stampa's version of the libretto, was staged in two different versions in 1730, first in Vienna (RV 697-A), and later in Prague (RV 697-B). The music of both of these versions is lost. Vivaldi's setting of the Argippo libretto partially survives in a pasticcio, RV Anh. 137, which, in the 21st century, was the basis for a reconstruction of the Prague version of Vivaldi's opera. Libretto Domenico Lalli's Il gran Mogol libretto was set by Francesco Mancini, and performed in the Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, in December 1713. In the next two decades this libretto was set as Argippo by several composers: Setting by Giovanni Porta, performed in 1717 in Venice. L'Argippo, a setting by of Claudio Nicola Stampa's reworked version of the libretto, was staged in Milan in 1722. Antonio Vivaldi based his Argippo, RV 697-A, which premiered in Vienna in 1730, on Stampa's adaptation of Lalli's libretto (music lost). Vivaldi used a variant of this libretto for his Argippo, RV 697-B, staged in Prague in the autumn of 1730 (music lost). Vivaldi's setting of the text based on Lalli's libretto was partially preserved in a pasticcio, Argippo, RV Anh. 137. Another Argippo pasticcio, credited to Antonio Costantini, and based on Lalli's libretto, was performed in the 1733 carnival season in Brno. Roles Synopsis The opera, in three acts, is set in an Indian royal court and centers around a young princess smitten by a dishonest suitor. 1717–1722 Porta's setting of Lalli's Argippo libretto was first performed in Venice in 1717. Fiorè's setting of Stampa's adaptation of the Argippo libretto was first performed in Milan in 1722. Porta Porta's Argippo was first performed on 31 October 1717 in Venice, in the Teatro San Cassiano. Both the printed libretto (titled L'Argippo: Drama per musica) and the manuscript score (titled Argippo) of this performance survive. A four-page dedication by Lalli precedes the text of his libretto. There is no sinfonia (overture) in the score. There are fifteen scenes in the first act, fourteen in the second act, and nine in the last act. The text in the score closely follows the original libretto. The printed libretto contains text variants for nine arias, but it is not known whether these alternative texts were set by Porta. In 1722, Porta's opera was re-staged in Venice, this time in the Teatro San Moisè. Also for this production, Lalli wrote a dedication in the printed libretto. Fiorè L'Argippo was staged in the Regio Ducal Teatro in Milan in honour of the 31st birthday of Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, which fell on 28 August 1722. The dedication, dated 27 August 1722 in the extant libretto, was written by Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio and addressed at , who