AT THE OPERA
Premiere Anniversaries, Part 2
Prepared and presented by Camille Mercep

Schuster, J. Demoföonte. Opera in three acts. Libretto by Pietro Metastasio. First performed Forli, summer of 1776.   

Schuster, J. Demoföonte, Act I   
[01:06:03]

Schuster, J. Demoföonte, Act II   
[46:42]

Schuster, J. Demoföonte, Act III   
[26:22]

   DEMOFÖONTE:: Andreas Post, ten
MATUSIO: Jan Kobow, ten
DIRCEA: Dorothee Mields, sop
TIMANTE: Jörg Waschinski, ct
CREUSA: Marie Melnitzki, sop
CHERINTO: Werner Buchin, ct
La Ciaccona/Ludger Rémy.Total Time: 2:19:07
Harmonia Mundi 98282 2

   Demophon, King of Thrace, asks the oracle how long the custom of the annual sacrifice of a virgin is to continue. The reply is that it must occur every year that an ‘innocent usurper’ sits on the throne. Demophon’s minister, Matusio, does not know that his daughter, Dircea, has secretly married the king’s elder son, Timante, and borne him a child. Equally ignorant of this, the king decrees that Dircea will be sacrificed. Demophon has chosen a foreign princess, Creusa, as the bride for Timante. She is on her way to Thrace accompanied by Timante’s younger brother, Cherinto, who falls in love with Creusa. When they arrive in Thrace, Timante tells Creusa that he can’t marry her but gives no reason. Enraged, Creusa urges Cherinto to kill Timante in revenge. Dircea is seized by guards and taken to the place of sacrifice. Timante and his followers attempt to liberate Dircea but Timante is taken prisoner. He confesses that he has married Dircea and that they have a son.
Cherinto tells Timante that Creusa has persuaded Demophon to grant him and Dircea a pardon. Timante renounces his claim to the throne in favour of Cherinto, thus enabling him to marry Creusa. However, Matusio reveals that Dircea is Demophon’s daughter, thereby invalidating her marriage to Timante. A distraught Timante renounces his wife and son before a document is produced that declares that his father is not Demophon but Matusio. Hence Timante and Dircea were free to marry and Cherinto is the legitimate heir to the kingdom (and free to marry Creusa). As Timante is no longer the ‘innocent usurper’, the sacrificial tradition can also cease.

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