Ciro in Babilonia, ossia La caduta di Baldassare (Cyrus in Babylon, or The Downfall of Belshazzar) in an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Francesco Aventi. It was first performed at the Teatro Comunale, Ferrara

Ferrara

Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...

 during Lent

Lent

In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...

, 1812. The exact date of the premiere is unknown but is believed to be March 14. During Lent it was the custom for Italian opera houses either to close or to stage works on themes from the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

. Ciro in Babilonia is one of two Lenten operas by Rossini (along with Mosè in Egitto

Mosè in Egitto

Mosè in Egitto is a three-act opera written by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on a play by Francesco Ringhieri, L'Osiride, of 1760....

) and is based on the Biblical story of the overthrow of the Babylonian king Belshazzar

Belshazzar

Belshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of Babylon, the son of Nabonidus and the last king of Babylon according to the Book of Daniel . Like his father, it is believed by many scholars that he was an Assyrian. In Daniel Belshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of...

 by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, March 14(?), 1812 (Conductor: - )
Baldassare, King of Assyria	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Eliodoro Bianchi
Ciro, King of Persia	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Marietta Marcolini Marietta Marcolini Marietta Marcolini was an Italian operatic contralto.Marcolini was born in Florence. The date of her stage debut is unknown but she was appearing in Venice in 1800...
Almira, wife of Ciro, imprisoned by Baldassare	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Elisabetta Manfredini-Guarmani
Argene, confidant of Almira	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Anna Savinelli
Zambri, Babylonian prince	bass	Giovanni Layner
Arbace, captain in Baldassare's army	tenor	Francesco Savinelli
Daniello, prophet	bass	Giovanni Fraschi

Recordings

Year	Cast: Baldassare, Ciro, Amira, Argene	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1998	Ernesto Palacio, Caterina Calvi, Daniela Dessi Daniela Dessì Daniela Dessì Born May 14, 1957, in Genoa, Italy is an Italian lirico-spinto soprano.Daniela Dessì completed her singing studies at the Conservatory of Parma and the Accademia Chigiana of Siena. After having won the first prize at the International Competition organized by RAI TV in 1980, she had... , Oriana Ferraris	Carlo Rizzi Carlo Rizzi (conductor) Carlo Rizzi is an Italian conductor.Rizzi studied music at the Milan Conservatory. He later was a conducting student of Vladimir Delman, in Bologna, and with Franco Ferrara in Siena. His opera conducting debut was in 1982, with Donizetti's L'ajo nell'imbarazzo... , Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo and Coro Francesco Cilea di Reggio (Recording of a performance in the Teatro Chiabrera, Savona, 30 October)	Audio CD: Hunt, Cat: 105; Arkadia, Cat: CDAK 105.2; Celestial Audio, Cat: CA 502
2004	Riccardo Botta, Annarita Gemmabella, Luisa Islam-Ali-Zade, Maria Soulis	Antonino Fogliani, Württembergische Philharmonie Orchestra and ARS Brunensis Chamber Choir (Recorded at 3 performances at the Wildbad Festival, July)	Audio CD: Naxos Cat: 8.660203/4
2008	Cyril Auvity, Nora Gubisch, Elena de la Merced, Sophie Daneman	Jean-Claude Malgoire, La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy and Choeur de Chambre de Namur (Recording of a concert performance in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, 12 January)	Audio CD: Premiere Opera Cat: ??