Silla is an opera seria

Opera seria

Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...

 (referred to as a dramma per musica

Dramma per musica

Dramma per musica is a term which was used by dramatists in Italy and elsewhere between the late-17th and mid-19th centuries...

) in three acts by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

. 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...

-language 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...

 was by Giacomo Rossi

Giacomo Rossi

Giacomo Rossi was an Italian 'poet', translator and librettist who settled in London early in the 18th century and wrote librettos for George Frideric Handel, between 1710 and 1729....

. The story concerns the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...

 (138-78 BC) as recounted by Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

.

The opera appears to have been a pièce d'occasion, whicht may have been performed only once. The music was recycled in Handel's later opera Amadigi di Gaula

Amadigi di Gaula

Amadigi di Gaula is a magical opera in three acts, with music by George Frideric Handel. It was the fifth Italian opera that Handel wrote for London and was composed during his stay at Burlington House in 1715...

.

Performance history

The first performance might have been on 2 June 1713. A dedication from the librettist, Rossi, to the French ambassador, the Duc d'Aumont, appears with that date in a printed copy of the libretto. Anthony Hicks

Anthony Hicks

Anthony Hicks was a Welsh musicologist, music critic, editor, and writer.Born in Swansea, Hicks read mathematics at King's College London during the mid-1960s and worked for roughly a quarter of century as a computer systems analyst at the University of London...

 believes there may have been a private performance at the Queen's Theatre, London. However according to the Amadeus Almanac, the performance took place at Burlington House

Burlington House

Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in London. It was originally a private Palladian mansion, and was expanded in the mid 19th century after being purchased by the British government...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 2 June 1713 (Conductor: George Frideric Handel )
Silla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla)	tenor
Metella	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...	Probably Elisabetta Pilotti-Schiavonetti Elisabetta Pilotti-Schiavonetti Elisabetta Pilotti-Schiavonetti was an Italian operatic soprano who was associated with the House of Hanover. She was one of the leading prima donnas at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket from 1710 to 1717...
Lepido (Lepidus)	soprano castrato	Valeriano Pellegrini Valeriano Pellegrini Valeriano Pellegrini was an Italian soprano castrato singer of the 18th century. He is largely remembered today for his association with the composer George Frederic Handel, whom he sung for in Italy and then later followed to London...
Flavia, the wife of Lepido	soprano	Francesca Margherita de L'Epine Francesca Margherita de l'Epine Francesca Margherita de l'Epine , was an Italian vocalist.Epine, a native of Tuscany, came to England with her German master, Greber, and was heard at York Buildings in 1692, becoming ‘so famous for her singing’ that she performed there and at Freeman's Yard during the remainder of that season...
Claudio (Claudius)	alto castrato
Celia	soprano	Maria Manina-Fletcher-Seedo
The god	bass
Scabro (Scabrus)	silent
Mars	silent

Recordings

Handel: Silla - London Handel Orchestra

• Conductor: Denys Darlow
• Principal singers: James Bowman (Silla), Joanne Lunn
  Joanne Lunn
  - Professional career :Joanne Lunn studied at Royal College of Music, where she graduated and received the Tagore Gold Medal.Lunn performed in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, Gluck's operas Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste, and in Verdi's Falstaff...
  
   (Lepido), Simon Baker (Claudio), Rachel Nicholls (Metella), Natasha Marsh (Flavia), Elizabeth Cragg (Celia), Christopher Dixon (The god)
• Recording date: 11 April 2000
• Label: SOMM Recordings - 227-8 (CD)