Lucio Silla

Mozart had just turned 16 when he received the commission for Lucio Silla in March 1771. A year and a half later, he had written all the recitatives and travelled to Milan where he would compose the arias and begin rehearsals. The third of his operas opened at the Teatro Regio Ducal in December 1772 with a cast of some of the best voices of that time - not for nothing - as the score is devilishly difficult and only for singers with unshakable technique.Only a few years later, Johann Christian Bach used the libretto for his own opera. He maintained the conventional model of 18th century European opera seria, with a story about the value of magnanimity. The Roman dictator Silla – a role inspired by the general of the same name – tries to use his political influence to conquer the daughter of his sworn enemy, Giunia, with whom he is in love. However, the girl’s affections are for the exiled Roman senator Cecilio. Silla’s initial scheme falls apart, and in the end, his feelings of compassion compel him to give up his love and even renounce his power. The opera suggests that virtuous decisions are always the right ones.