Librettist: Pietro Metastasio
Dramma per musica in three acts
Date: 1752
Language: Italian
Large-scale
Dicea: soprano
Matusio: tenor
Timante: soprano
Demofoonte: tenor
Adrasto: alto
Creusa: soprano
Cherinto: soprano
Chorus
The opera revolves around King Demofoonte and the annual obligation to sacrifice a young virgin to save the kingdom. Dircea, daughter of Matusio, is betrothed to Timante but is in danger of being offered as a sacrifice. Timante tries to convince his father to forgive Dircea, but Demofoonte insists on tradition.
Meanwhile, Princess Creusa is sent to marry Timante, but he refuses her out of love for Dircea. Conflicts, misunderstandings and acts of courage and generosity mark the efforts of Timante, Dircea and their allies to escape the sacrifice. Dircea, showing nobility and concern for the welfare of Timante and her son Olinto, moves them and intercedes with Demofoonte.
The climax reveals family secrets: Timante discovers that Dircea is in fact the daughter of Demofoonte and that he himself is not the legitimate son of the queen, but of Matusio. Thus, the impediment to his marriage to Dircea is removed, and the true heir to the throne, Cherinto, can marry Creusa. The opera ends with reconciliations, forgiveness and celebration, with the chorus singing the joy of the resolution of the conflicts.
2 Fl | 2 Ob | Bsn | 2 Tpt | 2 Hn | Vln | Vla | Vc | Cb | Cemb¹
Score: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal
Il Demofoonte marks David Perez’s debut as an operatic composer in Portugal and illustrates, alongside other works by the composer, a transition from a monumental idiom to a sentimental style, with greater textural clarity and symmetry between phrases.² The drama was “presented on the birthday of King José I and specially dedicated to D. Ana Joaquina de Lancastre, wife of Governor Almada e Melo and godmother to Luísa Todi”. This singer, who on this occasion made her debut in the serious genre, in the role of Dircea, was the only Portuguese voice in the cast.³ Interestingly, although the Portuguese public expressed favour towards Il Demofoonte, the English visitor Richard Twiss commented that the Court Theatre, where the work was presented, was “the vilest of the two kingdoms, very old and degraded. It served for Portuguese plays and Italian operas. I saw the opera Demofoonte performed there, suitable to the place where it was presented.”⁴
Date: Autumn 1752
Venue: Teatro da Corte, Lisbon
Cast: Rosa Ambrosini, Pedro António (Pereira), Alessandro Basili, Maria Giuntini, Anna Lauretti, Luísa Todi, Giuseppe Vighi
