Amor vien dal destino
Music by Agostino Steffani · libretto by Ortensio Mauro · premiered 1709
Amor vien dal destino (Love comes from destiny) is an opera in three acts composed by Agostino Steffani to an Italian libretto by Ortensio Mauro. It is based on an episode from Vergil's Aeneid. It was composed when Steffani was director of music in Hanover, probably in 1693 for the 1694 Carnival celebrations. It was not performed at the time, but premiered in 1709 in Düsseldorf. The opera was revived in concert in Steffani's hometown and New York City in 1981, staged by the Berlin State Opera in 2016, and again by Oper Frankfurt in 2026. The music has a rich instrumentation, including the pioneering use of chalumeau, and features a great variety of sounds in quick succession. The role of the heroine is unusually written for the alto voice rather than soprano, while the music for her nurse is written in tenor clef.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Amor vien dal destino", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Agostino Steffani (25 July 1654 – 12 February 1728) was an Italian bishop, polymath, diplomat and composer.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Agostino Steffani", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Agostino Steffani
- Henrico Leone (1689)