Siroe
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Siroe, re di Persia, is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was his 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music and was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bor
George Frideric Handel
Caricature of Senesino, who created the role of Siroe
Relief from Persia at the time Siroe is set. The figure in the middle at the top is the King called "Cosroe" in the opera
The King's Theatre, London, where Siroe had its first performance
Opera seria
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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 about 1770. The term itself was rarely used at the t
Siroe
…Siroe, re di Persia (Siroes, King of Persia, HWV 24), is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was his 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music and was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and…
Caricature of a performance of Handel's Flavio, featuring three of the best-known opera seria singers of their day: Senesino on the left, diva Francesca Cuzzoni in the centre, and art-loving castrato Gaetano Berenstadt on the right
Caricature of the castrato singer Antonio Bernacchi by Antonio Maria Zanetti, 1723. The florid line implies that the cadenza is overly long, and ascends higher than the campanile of St Mark's Basilica. It ends with the characteristic trill.
Jacopo Amigoni: Il cantante Farinelli con amici (among which Metastasio), c. 1752 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne)
Illustration from a 1764 edition of the score of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice