Creso ('Croesus') is an opera seria in 3 acts with music by Antonio Sacchini, set to an Italian libretto by Gioacchino Pizzi after Book I of the Histories by Herodotos. The opera was first performed on 4 November 1765 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. The libretto was a popular one that had been first set by Niccolò Jommelli (Rome, 1757).

Creso
Opera seria by Antonio Sacchini
Antonio Sacchini, engraved portrait
LibrettistGioacchino Pizzi
LanguageItalian
Based onHistories by Herodotos
Premiere
4 November 1765 (1765-11-04)

Creso was the most widely performed of Sacchini's opera serias, and much of the music displays the transition that the aria form of opera seria was undergoing. The standard aria dal segno form is interlaced with examples of abbreviated rondo form (ABAB) and through-composed ternary arias. Some of the music suggests themes from the works of the widely influential Tommaso Traetta.

Roles

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Role Voice type Premiere Cast, 4 November 1765
(Conductor:)
Creso (Croesus) tenor Salvatore Casetti
Ariene, his daughter, soprano Maria Antonia Girelli-Aguilar
Euriso, Ariene's betrothed soprano castrato Giuseppe Aprile "Sciroletto"
Cratina soprano Francesca Gabrielli
Ciro soprano castrato Antonio Muzzio
Sibari soprano castrato Giuseppe Fabrizi

References

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  • Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Creso, 4 November 1765". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  • McClymonds, Marita P. (2001). "Creso". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.