Catone in Utica at Theater an der Wien

Pietro Metastasio libretto Catone in Utica that the serious conflict between the aspiring dictator Julius Caesar and the statesman Marcus Porcius Cato describes the Younger is abbandonata next Didone and Attilio Regolo one of the few opera libretti by Metastasio with a tragico fine, a tragic end: Cato, an advocate of the Roman Republic, has become entrenched in the North African Utica. When Caesar occupied the city, Cato committed suicide. But Caesar is not the end because as a Winner, he has lost in Cato a political opponent, but also a highly respected man. Almost 70 times Metastasio has been adapted and set to music the libretto for the stage. In the Theater an der Wien, the version of Antonio Vivaldi was already experiencing (1737) - now comes the first version of the play with music by Leonardo Vinci, who in 1727 at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome premiered. The long death scene Cato then aroused the displeasure of the audience, which is why Metastasio fashioned his libretto for the musical settings later. However, the popularity of the composer did not diminish: The Italians, Charles of Brosses wrote 1739/1740 in its travel letters from Italy, "do not want a piece again see that they have already seen last year - unless it's one of the most outstanding operas Vinci . "