Palmira, regina di Persia

Palmira, regina di Persia
Opera by Antonio Salieri
Beginning of the manuscript
Librettist	Giovanni de Gamerra
Language	Italian
Premiere	14 October 1795 (1795-10-14) Kärntnertortheater, Vienna

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.

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.

Roles

Roles	Voice type	Premiere, October 14, 1795 (Conductor: - )	First Cast
High Priest	bass
Palmira, Princess of Persia	soprano
Alderano, King of Egypt	bass
Oronte, King of Scythia	bass
Alcidoro, King of India	tenor
Darius the Great, King of Persia	bass

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.

References

• John A. Rice: "Palmira, regina di Persia", Grove Music Online ed L. Macy (accessed 29 May 2007), grovemusic.com Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine, subscription access.
• John A. Rice: "Palmira, regina di Persia" in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7