Scipione affricano

Scipione affricano (Scipio Africanus) is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Francesco Cavalli. It was designated as a dramma per musica. The Italian libretto was by Nicolò Minato, based on Livy's "The Continence of Scipio".

Title page of the original libretto

Francesco Cavalli

Performance history

It was first performed in Venice at the Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo on 9 February 1664. It was also given in Rome in 1671 with the castrato Giovanni Francesco Grossi as a celebrated Siface. Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani produced a greatly revised version of the opera for the Carnival of Venice in 1678.

Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere cast

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 9 February 1664
Asdrubale	tenor
Ericlea	soprano
Luceio	soprano
Polinio	soprano
Siface	alto castrato	Giovanni Francesco Grossi
Massanissa	bass
Sofonisba	soprano

Recordings

• Atto III Scena 3: "A tuo dispetto amor" Cappella Mediterranea, Leonardo García Alarcón, Clematis, Thomas Dunford 2014
• "Hora si ch'assai più fiero" Filippo Mineccia (counter-tenor) Nereydas Javier Ulises Illán Glossa 2018

Further reading

• Clinkscale, Martha Novak, "Scipione affricano", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7