The libretto was based on Il Trionfo di Camilla, regina de' Volsci by Silvio Stampiglia, translated into English verse by Owen Swiny, Peter Motteux, or others.
[4] There were three separate productions of Camilla in London which together had 111 or 112 performances from 1706 to 1728, making it the most popular and successful work of its period, after The Beggar's Opera.
[6] Act I: Camilla, disguised as a shepherdess, is hiding in the Volscian countryside and plans to overthrow the usurper King Latinus from the throne that is rightfully hers.
[7] The adaptation by McSwiney and Haym cut as much of the recitative as possible from libretto, as this was an unfamiliar form in English and difficult to write as effectively as in Italian.
[8][4] The original cast was: Holcomb (Prenesto), Hughs (Turnus), Lewis Ramondon (Metius), Richard Leveridge (Linco), Catherine Tofts (Camilla), Joanna Maria Lindelheim (Lavinia), and Mrs Lyndsey (Tullia).
The role of Turnus was taken by Valentino Urbani (Valentini),[9]: 96 of Lavinia by Joanna Maria Lindelheim, and of Prenesto by Margherita de l'Épine.
The other roles were sung in English by Purbeck Turner (Latinus), Littleton Ramondon (Metius), Richard Leveridge (Linco), Catherine Tofts (Camilla) and Mary Lindsey (Tullia).
[11] The original Italian opera by Stampiglia and Bononcini's premiered in Naples at the Teatro di S Bartolomeo on 27 December 1696.