Ottone, re di Germania is an opera by George Frideric Handel, to an Italian–language libretto adapted by Nicola Francesco Haym from the libretto by Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino for Antonio Lotti's opera Teofane. It was the first new opera written for the Royal Academy of Music (1719)'s fourth season and had its first performance on 12 January 1723 at the King's Theatre, Haymarket in London. Handel had assembled a cast of operatic superstars for this season and the opera became an enormous success.
George Frideric Handel
The King's Theatre, London, where Ottone had its first performance
Francesca Cuzzoni, who created the role of Teofane
Senesino, who created the role of Ottone
Royal Academy of Music (company)
The Royal Academy of Music was a company founded in February 1719, during George Frideric Handel's residence at Cannons, by a group of aristocrats to secure themselves a constant supply of opera seria. It is not connected to the London conservatoire with the same name, which was founded in 1822.
Handel by Francis Kyte (fl. 1710–1744), National Portrait Gallery.
The King's Theatre on the Haymarket (London) by William Capon.
The duke of Newcastle (left) and the Earl of Lincoln, brothers-in-law as painted by Godfrey Kneller, c. 1721.
A caricature of Margherita Durastanti, drawn while she was prima donna at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice, between 1709 and 1712.
