Cleofide

Hasse returned to the same subject for a new production at the Teatro San Giovanni Gristostomo in Venice on 4 November 1736, however the music was almost completely different.

Although successful after its premiere, the opera has faded into relative obscurity, though a revival was staged at the Semperoper Dresden in March 2005.

Se mai più sarò geloso,[3] a duet for Cleofide and Poro and the Cleofide-aria Son qual misera colomba[4] are also relatively famous among baroque opera enthusiasts.

Poros intends to kill himself to avoid the impending humiliation but is hindered by his beloved Cleophis, queen of another part of India.

This, however, does not prevent him from playing the part of Gandartes so impressively that Alexander is moved to give him a special present for Poros: the sword that once belonged to Darius, the Persian king.

But when Cleophis threatens to take refuge from Poros' jealousy by going into seclusion in the wilderness, he pledges to control his temper (and not for the first time, as we have seen).

Then follows a scene in which Eryxene, long betrothed to Gandartes, delicately prepares him for the news that she does not feel bound to a faithfulness that extends to the realm of thought, saying that "this sort of absolute devotion is no longer in fashion."

Left alone, Gandartes considers the merits of women who (unlike Eryxene) conceal their true feelings and who have only words of flattery for their loved ones.

To Poros this assertion of his masculine adversary is more credible than the combined attestations of his loved one and suffices to convince him of her fidelity.

Just as Cleophis is declaring her allegiance to the victor and promising him security in her kingdom, a renewed call to arms is sounded: Poros attacks, destroying the bridge.

After Cleophis threatens to throw herself in to the raging waters of the river and Poros succeeds in restraining her, the lovers decide to marry at once.

At that moment it becomes clear that they are surrounded by enemies; Poros wishes to kill first Cleophis and then himself, sparing both the humiliation of defeat.

Timagenes asks his commander to placate the army, who are blaming Cleophis' followers for the unanticipated Indian attack and demanding that the queen be put to death.

The endless confusion of mistaken identities takes on a new dimension: Eryxene appears with the news that after the battle on the bridge Poros had fallen into river and drowned (we know that Gandartes survived his perilous jump into the Hydaspes in good condition).

Meanwhile, Cleophis, who still believes that her lover is dead, consents to marry Alexander for the purpose of establishing peace between the Indians and the Greeks.

This time it is Eryxene who thwarts the suicidal impulse: she reports the impending marriage of Alexander and Cleophis, provoking a renewed round of Poros' jealousy.

Cleophis is indeed planning to marry Alexander, believing she has lost her true love, but intends to commit suicide after the wedding.

Alexander bids Cleophis to place her hands in his - at which time she declares that she had already been married to Poros and now (in accordance with Indian custom) wishes to mount the pyre and follow him in death.

He grants Poros and Cleophis their freedom and their empire, and Gandartes is given feudal tenure over the lands conquered by Alexander on the far side of the Ganges.

Title page of the original libretto