Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo by Rossini, Da (2013/2013), Direttore d'orchestra Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Theater an der Wien, Vienna, Austria

As the "most humble homage to His Majesty", Gioachino Rossini, the court composer of Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies, wrote the cantata in one act Le nozze di Teti, e di Peleo on the occasion of the marriage of Princess Maria Carolina to the Duke of Berry. The story of the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, based on the text book by Angelo Maria Ricci, was premiered on April 24, 1816 at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples. The Neapolitan poet Ricci used the ancient legend of the sea nymph Thetis as the basis for his magnificent drama. Zeus himself wanted to seduce her, the most beautiful of the nymphs. But the warning that the son of Thetis would grow taller than his father once prevented even the omnipotent father of gods from a love affair. Finally, the mortal Peleus wins the nymph as his wife and together they father Achilles, the most famous hero of ancient mythology. Composed for a story worthy of an imperial couple Rossini hardly added any new music, but arranged and reworked existing compositions, but artfully combined them into a new, independent work. Due to the uniqueness of the occasion, Rossini paid no further attention to the work and the cantata was considered lost. It was not until the late 1960s that the autograph was rediscovered at the Naples Conservatory.