Siface, re di Numidia

It is a reworking of La forza della virtù by de:Domenico David and was Metastasio's first work as a librettist.

The characters are: Siface (Syphax) is planning a marriage of convenience with Viriate but then falls in love with Ismene.

[Digital 1] Outside the city wall of Rusconia: Siface, Erminio and Orcano await the arrival of Viriate.

Viriate is slightly offended, however, when Siface immediately sends her with Libanio and Orcano to his castle in Cirta.

[Digital 1] Royal cabinet: Viriate tells Orcano that Siface now wants to marry Ismene.

Since Orcano already sees her as his queen, he hands over the sword and asks her to kill him as a punishment for his daughter's dishonor.

[Digital 1] Magnificent colonnade: Libanio tells Siface that he has failed to compromise Viriate's virtue.

Large courtroom: Libanio reports to Siface that he tried unsuccessfully to get Viriate's servant to testify against her and has therefore killed him.

[Digital 1] Prison cell: Libanio brings Viriate poison and a dagger and asks her to choose her death.

[Digital 1] Magnificent gallery: Unable to free Viriate, Erminio and Orcano decide to snatch Ismene from the tyrant and go in search of her.

[Digital 1] Metastasio wrote this adaptation of de:Domenico David’s La forza della virtù one year before his first original libretto, Didone abbandonata.

Although Metastasio set the plot in ancient Numidia, the original story had nothing to do with the historical Syphax and was actually about king Peter of Castile, based in an account in volume four of the fifteen volume Historia della perdita e reaquisto dell Spagna accupata da Mori (Story of the loss and recovery of the Kingdom of Spain occupied by the Moors) by Bartolomeo de Rogatis.

Making Syphax the main character connected the drama with works about Sophonisba, which were then very popular, and also dealt with love outside marriage and included poison in their story.

[1] David's libretto La forza della virtù had first been set to music in Venice in 1692 by Carlo Pollarolo.

It was praised of by several members of the Accademia dell’Arcadia and subsequently used by other composers including Giacomo Antonio Perti in Bologna in 1694.

In 1699 Pollarola's opera Creonte tiranno di Tebe with arias by Alessandro Scarlatti was performed in Naples.

[1] In 1725 Metastasio adapted the text for a setting by Nicola Antonio Porpora, that was performed simultaneously in Venice and Milan on 26 December.

He strengthened the characterisation “the perfidy of Syphax, the uprightness of Viriate, the ambition of Ismene and the magnanimous conduct of Orcano.”[Digital 1] In addition, he removed Ismene's attack on Viriate, includec in the first version, and thus ensured a more convincing conclusion to the opera.

The version performed in Milan was heavily edited and also contained replacement arias from older Porpora operas.