This recording of Argippo is the latest treasure to emerge from the remarkable collection of Vivaldi’s manuscripts held by the Italian National Library in Turin. First performed in Vienna and Prague in 1730, it is a pasticcio featuring music by Vivaldi and high-profile contemporaries including Pescetti, Hasse and Porpora.

Agrippo

The libretto by Sebastiano Biancardi tells the unhappy, convoluted story of the family of the Gran Mogol Tisifaro, a ruler of the East Indies. His beloved only daughter Zanaida is pursued by two princes, Silvero and Argippo. Trouble ensues when Silvero tricks Zanaida into sleeping with him, believing that he is Argippo. Argippo meanwhile falls in love with another woman, Osira, and marries her, returning to court whereupon Zanaida becomes convinced of his faithlessness. Argippo, believing that he is being asked to...