Libretto: Nicolò Minato
Ballet music: Andreas Anton Schmelzer
Premiere: Vienna, Hofburg, 28. února 1683.
Performers: Soloists and Baroque orchestra Hof-Musici, dance ensemble Epochal Dances, choreography by Veronika Rehbergerová, stage director and Baroque gestures by Zuzana Vrbová, directed from the harpsichord by Ondřej Macek.
Modern World Premiere: Český Krumlov, Baroque Castle Theatre, 18–20 September 2026
Antonio Draghi (1634–1700), a native of Rimini, was one of the most famous and influential Italian composers of his time and, with more than 150 stage works, one of the most prolific composers in the history of opera. In 1658, he was summoned from Italy to the imperial court in Vienna, where he remained until the end of his life. In Vienna, he first worked as a bass singer in the ensemble of the dowager Empress Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, becoming vicemaestro in 1668 and maestro di cappella the following year. He held this important position until the end of 1681. In addition to his work in the band of the dowager Empress, he also worked for the band of the ruling Emperor Leopold I (1640–1705, reigned from 1657) – first as a librettist and later also as a composer. After 1669, when Nicolò Minato (c. 1627–1698) was employed at court as court poet, Draghi devoted himself exclusively to musical composition and gradually became the most important author of operas and oratorios of the entire Leopoldine era. In 1674, he was appointed intendant of the court theatre (intendente delle musiche teatrali) by the music-loving emperor, and in 1682 he finally became maestro di cappella, a prestigious position he held until his death in 1700.
Draghi’s name is also linked to the musical history of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown – many of his musical dramas (operas, serenatas and oratorios) premiered in Prague, Pardubice, and Mikulov.
The comic opera (trattenimento musicale) Lo Smemorato (The Forgetful One) was performed at the end of the 1683 carnival by the court musicians (Kayserliche Hof-Musici) of the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia Leopold I. Musical-dramatic works performed at the Viennese imperial court were not repeated during the Baroque period, so our performance of Draghi’s opera will be only the second performance of this work in history.
Tickets online or in Infocentre Cesky Krumlov available.