La Nitteti
La Nitteti is an 18th‑century Italian opera in three acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It uses a libretto by the Italian poet Metastasio that was first performed in 1756. By the 1770s, such librettos were often shortened and altered to suit contemporary tastes, and La Nitteti underwent several cuts and substitutions for the 1770 performance, though the exact changes aren’t known.
The opera is an opera seria, performed in Italian. It premiered on 29 April 1770 at the Teatro Nuovo Pubblico in Bologna, just after Mysliveček met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father there. Caterina Gabrielli had originally been planned as the lead singer but did not travel from Palermo; Clementina Spagnuoli took the role instead. The castrato Tommaso Guarducci met Mysliveček during preparations and became a close collaborator in the following years. The production was a success and was revived in 1777 at the Teatro Nuovo in Pavia.
Two arias from La Nitteti, "Povero cor, tu palpiti" and "Se la cagion saprete," received modern premieres in 2020 at Cadogan Hall in London, conducted by Ian Page.
During the summer of 1770, the young Mozart was staying in Bologna with his father and studied Mysliveček’s score for La Nitteti closely, picking up musical ideas that appear in his own early works. The overture and opening arias show Mysliveček’s influence on Mozart’s developing style.
Some arias in La Nitteti use texts not from Metastasio. One aria from the opera, "Ah, non temer ben mio," is available on a 1992 recording by Czech soprano Zdena Kloubová with the Benda Chamber Orchestra conducted by Miroslav Hrdlička (Panton).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:12 (CET).