The Triumph of Clelia

About

Il trionfo di Clelia, or The Triumph of Clelia, is an Italian opera by Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. Drawing on narratives of the early Roman republic, the story begins when the Etruscan King surrounds Rome in an attempt to restore the power of the expelled Tarquinian royal family. The opera has an unsuspecting hero in Clelia, one of the the Kings hostages, as she escapes the city on horseback and braves treacherous conditions in order to meet up with her lover Orazio and fight for Rome's freedom. When Triumph of Clelia originally premiered in 1763, it served as a critique to monarchies of the 17th and 18th centuries, but has since been re-imagined for modern audiences as a statement against 20th century totalitarianism.