The shepherd Mitridate took Elcino in and raised him as the brother of his daughter Erenia. Erenia’s love for Arsace, Artemio’s son, and the love of Sandane, Artemio’s daughter, for Elcino are disrupted by the hatred opposing their families. Mitridate tells Erenia that, years before, the King Astiage (Astyages) entrusted Arpago with getting rid of his grandson Ciro (Cyrus) because of a dream. Alone, Erenia remembers that her mother gave birth to a stillborn child, and that his father substituted Elcino for him, caring for him as for his own son. Owing to their love for their respective sisters, Arsace and Elcino reconcile. At the palace, Astiage, suspecting Arpago of not having fulfilled his task, pretends to feel remorse and to wish that Ciro could come back to life. Arpago, Mitridate and Erenia rejoice at this change of heart, and decide to present Elcino to the king: they organise a sacrifice during which Astiage feels drawn to Elcino. To warn him against the tyrant, Mitridate tells Elcino the story of Ciro: the young man decides to take revenge on behalf of the child. When Sandane walks in on him, she confesses her love to him. The act ends with a dance of temple guards. In the forest, Astiage rushes to Erenia’s rescue, as she is being chased by a wild beast. To take revenge for Elcino’s severity toward Arsace, she tells him that the young man is not her brother, and she promises to bring him the baby blanket with which he was found. Elcino, who came back to his flocks, has grand dreams. He is invited to eat with the king, and Arpago tells him that Ciro is alive. Seeing the baby blanket, Astiage understands who Elcino is, and he appeals to the goddesses for revenge. To avenge himself of Arpago’s poor services, the tyrant has him drink a cup filled with his son’s blood; he also sends Elcino to prison. The sky darkens, the sea becomes turbulent, and furies come out of clouds and begin to dance. Sandane worries about her lover’s fate. When she sees him in chains, they exchange vows quickly before Elcino is taken back to his dungeon. Erenia, overcome with guilt, tells Sandane about Ciro’s identity, and she declares her Queen. Astiage declares his love to Sandane: she rejects him and asks to die by her husband’s side, which sparks Astiage’s jealousy. The tyrant decides to set Ciro on fire before his wife’s eyes; but the guards have stopped obeying him. In the meantime, Arsace and Arpago have freed Elcino, who is now arriving with the conspirators. He learns about his true identity from Sandane, and takes the tyrant’s place. Erenia confesses to her father that she betrayed him and revealed Ciro’s identity to the King: he forgives her, because she allowed for fates to be accomplished. The play ends with Ciro’s accession: he ascends the throne accompanied by Sandane.

"On foot and by rod" puppet

Marionette with counterweight

Not specified

Ottoboni Pietro

Italy

Rome

Printed

Tyrant

Child abandonment

Conjuration

Magnanimity

Prophetic dream

Anthropophagy

Edifying

Heroic

Pastoral

Pietro Ottoboni, Il Ciro, 1712 (title page)

Italian

King

Captain

Father

Shepherd

Young woman

Prince

Sister

Music

Chorus

Interlude

Expository scene

Account of a dream

Disguised character (false identity)

Invisible force

Hunting scene

Board meeting

Monologue

Procession

Apparition of demons

Destruction of set elements

Thunderbolt

Release of a prisoner

Scene in the dark

Love rivalry

Scene of recognition

Change of social status

Clouds

Flying machine

Final wedding

Il Ciro

Cyrus

Gianguir rebelled against his father and was disowned: he lost his right to the throne, which is now promised to his son Cosrovio. Gianguir married Zama, a woman of humble birth who convinced him to marry her daughter Miraca to Cosrovio. Her brother Asaf is the sultan’s favourite. Cosrovio turns down this proposal because he is in love with Alinda (the princess Semira, Gianguir’s sworn enemy); she convinces him to reclaim the throne bequeathed by his grandfather and take up arms against his father. His friend Mahobet, the captain of the guards, tries to remind him of his duty. Cosrovio and Asaf fight before Gianguir’s eyes. To avenge himself after being humiliated, Asaf tells Semira that Cosrovio will marry Miraca; she promises him her love out of jealousy. When ordered to either marry Miraca or to surrender and die, Cosrovio takes up arms: Gianguir finds out about this betrayal and demands that Mahobet’s head be brought to him for having helped his son. Mahobet saves himself by taking Gianguir hostage. He is accused of high treason and Gianguir deprives him of his rank, even though Agra is in danger. The army is handed to Asaf. Semira, using the name Alinda, feigns cooperation: she promises that she will marry Asaf and denounces the enemies of the kingdom to set herself free. Gianguir tells Cosrovio that Alinda is in love with another man. Cosrovio thinks that she has betrayed him, but as soon as Alinda is free, she reveals that Semira will not keep the promises made by Alinda, and that she is Cosrovio’s wife. The two lovers reunite. Semira sends her future husband to the battlefield and Asaf is defeated: when all seems lost for the king, Gianguir arrives—Mahobet has freed him. Zama tries to convince him to forgive his son, and Mahobet says that a rebellion will start if he kills him. At the very last moment, Gianguir chooses to be magnanimous: Semira walks in on the father and son reconciling. She asks to be killed at the same time as her husband, but Gianguir spares them on Zama’s advice. He declares her sultan’s wife and marries Semira and Cosrovio. The choir celebrates this beautiful day.

String marionette

Zeno Apostolo

Venice

Succession

Rebellion

Forced marriage

Favourite

Melodramatic

Epic

Gianguir, 1748 (title page)

Emperor

Princess

Wife

Brother

Confident

Play in verse

Love story

Public announcement

Crowd

Duel scene

Parade

Off-stage combat

Fight

Arrest scene

Revelation

Gianguir

King Mirambole is tyrannical, vain and hypochondriac, and he wants to marry. Three rival courtiers (the Doctor, the Astrologer and the Goldsmith) flatter the King, smear one another and conspire to persuade him to choose a woman from their respective families as his wife. The Doctor convinces the King that only a comet put on his forehead will cure him of all his pains. To cause the Astrologer’s downfall, he also advises the King to leave this task to him. The Astrologer suggests that the King ask the Goldsmith to make one, while the Goldsmith persuades the King to entrust the Doctor and the Astrologer with the task. In the end, the valet Pierrot commits to bringing the king a comet. Pierrot goes to his brother, an innkeeper, brings back a bottle of “comet wine” and convinces his niece Balibutte to follow him. When he comes back to the palace, he introduces his niece as a comet embodied in a woman, and he cures the king with the wine. Balibutte relates a dream to the king, which both exposes the courtiers’ betrayals and tells him how to punish them. The king executes the courtiers, marries Balibutte and names Pierrot grand vizier.