La grotta di Trofonio 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...

, described as an opera comica, in two acts (five scenes) composed by Antonio Salieri

Antonio Salieri

Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....

 to an 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

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 Giovanni Battista Casti

Giovanni Battista Casti

Giovanni Battista Casti was an Italian poet, satirist, and author of comic opera librettos, born in Acquapendente...

.

The work was first performed in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 at the Burgtheater

Burgtheater

The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...

 on October 12, 1785. The similarity of the story of the opera may have influenced Lorenzo da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....

 when he wrote the libretto of Mozart's Così fan tutte

Così fan tutte

Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast October 12, 1785	Revival March 14, 2005
Aristone	bass	Francesco Bussani	Olivier Lallouette
Dori, daughter of Aristone, in love with Artemidoro	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...	Celeste Coltellini	Marie Arnet
Ofelia, daughter of Aristone, in love with Plistene	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...	Nancy Storace Nancy Storace Nancy Storace , , was an English operatic soprano...	Raffaella Milanesi
Artemidoro	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...	Vincenzo Calvesi Vincenzo Calvesi Vincenzo Calvesi was an Italian operatic tenor and impresario. A skillful lyric tenor, he began his career performing in opera houses in Italy during the 1770s. He was active in Dresden in 1782 to 1783 and then spent most of his time performing in Vienna from 1785 to 1794...	Nikolaï Schukoff
Plistene	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...	Stefano Mandini	Mario Cassi
Trofonio, a magician	bass	Francesco Benucci	Carlo Lepore

Synopsis

Dori and Ofelia (sisters) are in love with Plistene and Artemidoro (friends). The two pairs have contrasting personalities: Dori and Plistene are extroverted and enthusiastic, Ofelia and Artemidoro are introverted and reserved. The magician Trofonio invites them to his magic cave where their characters are reversed, first the men and then the women. Eventually everything is sorted out and there is a happy ending.

Recordings

Salieri: La Grotta di Trofonio - Les Talens Lyriques

Les Talens Lyriques

Les Talens Lyriques is a baroque orchestra founded in 1991 by French conductor Christophe Rousset.The ensemble takes its name from Jean-Philippe Rameau's opéra-ballet Les fêtes d'Hébé ou les talens lyriques .- External links :...

 and Lausanne Opera Chorus

• Conductor: Christophe Rousset
  Christophe Rousset
  Christophe Rousset is a French harpsichordist and conductor, specializing in the performance of baroque music on period instruments.-Biography:...
  
  
• Principal singers: Olivier Lallouette, Raffaella Milanesi, Marie Arnet, Nikolai Schukoff, Mario Cassi
• Recording date: (published 2005)
• Label: Ambroisie AMB 9986