Cleofide

Cleofide
Opera by Johann Adolph Hasse
The opera's composer, Johann Adolph Hasse
Librettist	Pietro Metastasio (adapted by M. Boccardi)
Premiere	11 September 1731 (1731-09-11) Grosses Königliches Opernhaus, Dresden

Cleofide (Cleophis) is an opera seria in three acts by Johann Adolf Hasse. The Italian libretto was adapted from Metastasio's Alessandro nell'Indie by Michelangelo Boccardi.

Boccardi's adaptation of the libretto shifted the focus of the story to Cleofide, as the name suggests, instead of Alessandro as in Metastasio's original libretto.

Cleofide was first performed on 13 September 1731 at the Grosses Königliches Opernhaus am Zwingerhof in Dresden.

Hasse returned to the same subject for a new production at the Teatro San Giovanni Gristostomo in Venice on 4 November 1736, however the music was almost completely different. On that occasion, the original title of Metastasio's libretto was used: Alessandro nell'Indie.

Although successful after its premiere, the opera has faded into relative obscurity today, though a revival was staged at the Semperoper Dresden in March 2005. An audio recording of the opera was also produced in 1986. One of Poro's arias, Generoso risuegliati, o core was featured in the film Farinelli (1994). Se mai più sarò geloso, a duet for Cleofide and Poro, is also relatively famous among baroque opera enthusiasts.

Act 1

Battlefield on the Banks of the Hydaspes. The army of the Indian King Poros has been utterly vanquished by Alexander's troops. Poros commands his fleeing soldiers to stand their ground against the invaders but is not obeyed. Poros intends to kill himself to avoid the impending humiliation but is hindered by his beloved Cleophis, queen of another part of India. She assures him of her love, but he breaks out in jealous recriminations, maintaining that she is actually Alexander's mistress. Gandartes, Poros' general, then warns his commander of the enemy's approach. Poros removes his crown and dons Gandartes's helmet so as to deceive the conqueror. Alexander appears together with Timagenes, his general. Even in this situation, fraught with external danger, Poros sees Alexander more as a rival in love than as a field marshal. This, however, does not prevent him from playing the part of Gandartes so impressively that Alexander is moved to give him a special present for Poros: the sword that once belonged to Darius, the Persian king. After Poros has departed, Timagenes presents a woman in chains, Poros' sister Eryxene. She has been captured, bound and handed over by two opportunistic Indians. But as they soon discover, Alexander deeply despises this sort of "tribute". He commands his men to untie her and to turn the betrayers over to her brother for punishment. Timagenes declares his love to Eryxene but is sharply rebuked; Alexander, without knowing it, has already won her heart. Timagenes, jealous, dreams up plans of revenge in which the troops are to be incited to mutiny against Alexander and to ally themselves with Poros.