Ercole amante is 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 a prologue and five acts by Francesco Cavalli

Francesco Cavalli

Francesco Cavalli was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known by that of Cavalli, the name of his patron Federico Cavalli, a Venetian nobleman.-Life:Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy...

. The Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 libretto was by Francesco Buti, based on Sophocles

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...

' The Trachiniae

The Trachiniae

Women of Trachis is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles.-Synopsis:The story begins with Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, relating the story of her early life and her plight adjusting to married life. She is now distraught over her husband's neglect of her family. Often involved in some adventure, he...

and on the ninth book of Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

's Metamorphoses.

The opera was a commission from Cardinal Mazarin to celebrate the wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain

Maria Theresa of Spain

Maria Theresa of Austria was the daughter of Philip IV, King of Spain and Elizabeth of France. Maria Theresa was Queen of France as wife of King Louis XIV and mother of the Grand Dauphin, an ancestor of the last four Bourbon kings of France.-Early life:Born as Infanta María Teresa of Spain at the...

. However, the grand preparations for the production resulted in delays and the opera was presented two years later.

Performance history

It was first performed in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 at the Salles des Machines in the Tuilleries on 7 February 1662.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, February 7, 1662
Cinzia	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...	Giuseppe Meloni
Ercole Hercules Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...	bass	Vincenzo Piccini
Deianira Deianira Deïanira or Dejanira is a figure in Greek mythology, best-known for being Heracles' third wife and, in the late Classical story, unwittingly killing him with the Shirt of Nessus... , Ercole's wife	soprano	Leonora Ballarini
Hyllo Hyllus In Greek mythology, Hyllus was the son of Heracles and Deianira, husband of Iole, nursed by Abia.... , son of Ercole	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...	Giuseppe Agostino Poncelli
Iole Iole In Greek mythology, Iolë was the daughter of Eurytus, king of the city Oechalia. According to the brief epitome by the so-called Apollodorus, Eurytus had a beautiful young daughter named Iole who was eligible for marriage. Iole was claimed by Heracles for a bride, but Eurytus refused her hand in...	soprano	Anna Bergerotti
La bellezza Hebe (mythology) In Greek mythology, Hēbē is the goddess of youth . She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Heracles ; her successor was the young Trojan prince Ganymede...	soprano	Anne de La Barre
Giunone Juno (mythology) Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera...	soprano castrato Castrato A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...	Antonio Rivani
Mercurio Mercury (mythology) Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...	tenor	Tagliavacca
Nettuno Neptune (mythology) Neptune was the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology and religion. He is analogous with, but not identical to, the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto, each of them presiding over one of the three realms of the universe,...	bass	Paolo Bordigone
Venere Venus (mythology) Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...	soprano	Hylaire Dupuis
Tevere Tiber The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...	bass	Beauchamps
Eutyro Eurytus Eurytus, Erytus , or Eurytos is the name of eleven characters in Greek mythology, and of at least one historical figure.-King of Oechalia:...	bass	Paolo Bordigoni
Licco	contralto Alto Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...	Giuseppe Chiarini
Shade of King Laomedonte Laomedon In Greek mythology, Laomedon was a Trojan king, son of Ilus, brother of Ganymede and Assaracus, and father of Priam, Astyoche, Lampus, Hicetaon, Clytius, Cilla, Proclia, Aethilla, Medesicaste, Clytodora, and Hesione...	tenor	Vulpio
Shade of Bussiride	contralto	Zanetto
Shade of Queen Clerica	contralto	Anne de La Barre
Pasithea Pasithea In Greek mythology, Pasithea or Pasithee was one of the Charites . The Charites are usually said to be the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, but Pasithea's parentage is given as Hera and Dionysus. She was married to Hypnos, the god of sleep.-Family:Her sisters are Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia...	soprano
Sonno	mezzosoprano
Paggio Page (servant) A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...	soprano