Il sogno di Scipione

Il sogno di Scipione
Azione teatrale by W. A. Mozart
The composer in 1777, by an unknown painter
LibrettistPietro Metastasio
LanguageItalian
Based onSomnium Scipionis
by Cicero
Premiere
1 May 1772 (1772-05-01)
Salzburg (incomplete performance)

Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126, is a dramatic serenade in one act (azione teatrale) composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, which is based on the book Somnium Scipionis by Cicero; Metastasio's libretto [de] has been set to music several times. Mozart had originally composed the work at the age of 15 for his patron, Prince-Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach. After the bishop's death before it could be performed, Mozart dedicated it to Schrattenbach's successor, Count Colloredo. It was given a private performance in the Archbishop's Palace in Salzburg on 1 May 1772, although not in its entirety. Only one aria, the final chorus and the recitative dedicating it to the new Prince-Archbishop were performed. It is highly unlikely that it was ever performed in its entirety in Mozart's lifetime.[1]

  1. ^ Piero Melograni [it], Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography, translated by Lydia G. Cochrane, University of Chicago Press, 2006, pp. 56–57