La Calliroe

La Calliroe is an opera in three acts by Josef Mysliveček set to a libretto by Matteo Verazi that is based on Greek legends about the Oceanid Callirrhoe.

Vocal pieces from the opera composed for the singer Luigi Marchesi in the role of Tarsile were widely copied in eighteenth-century collections of operatic arias.

La Calliroe was the first opera Mysliveček composed after returning to Italy from Munich, where he was detained for months in order to recover from an operation intended to alleviate the effects of syphilis.

In a letter to his father of 11 October 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart reported how Mysliveček bragged to him about his ability to influence the choice of singers at the San Carlo.

One of the cast members was the great castrato Luigi Marchesi, a close professional associate of the composer, whose career was critically aided by Mysliveček's intervention.