Lucio Silla at Theater an der Wien

One of the cruelest periods of Roman antiquity, the 16 year old Mozart treated in his opera seria Lucio Silla second: (.. 138-78 BC) Cornelius Lucius Sulla had to be killed as a dictator around 1500 opposing nobles, in his opera Mozart leaves but at the end Silla (Sulla) prevail over its competitors Cecilio clemency and pardoned them. The Opera has commissioned Mozart - as well as two years earlier for Mitridate - get from Milan Teatro Regio Ducale for the carnival season 1772/73. The composition, however, was linked to a number of difficulties: The librettist Giovanni da Gamerra had his libretto sent for correction to revered fellow poet Metastasio in Vienna, after which Mozart had to revise all composed in advance recitatives again, further met the singer partially delayed in Milan, which is why the settings of the arias delayed. The premiere on December 26, 1772 was only a moderate success, after 26 performances, the work disappeared for a half centuries into oblivion. Only towards the end of the 20th century became aware of the qualities of this opera, which in all convention by attempting Mozart offers, notably to increase the Aktschlüssen the drama and summarize the arias by orchestra accompanied recitatives and choral application to larger units.