Scipione affricano explained

Scipione affricano (Scipio Africanus) is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Francesco Cavalli. It was designated as a dramma per musica. The Italian libretto was by Nicolò Minato, based on Livy's "The Continence of Scipio".

Performance history

It was first performed in Venice at the Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo on 9 February 1664. It was also given in Rome in 1671 with the castrato Giovanni Francesco Grossi as a celebrated Siface. Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani produced a greatly revised version of the opera for the Carnival of Venice in 1678.

Roles

!Role!Voice type!Premiere cast, 9 February 1664

Asdrubale	tenor
Ericlea	soprano
Luceio	soprano
Polinio	soprano
Siface	alto castrato	Giovanni Francesco Grossi
Massanissa	bass
Sofonisba	soprano

Recordings

• Atto III Scena 3: "A tuo dispetto amor" Cappella Mediterranea, Leonardo García Alarcón, Clematis, Thomas Dunford 2014
• "Hora si ch'assai più fiero" Filippo Mineccia (counter-tenor) Nereydas Javier Ulises Illán Glossa 2018

Further reading

• Clinkscale, Martha Novak, "Scipione affricano", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992)