Ruggiero was Johann Adolf Hasse's final opera before he quitted the theatrical stage. It was composed as part of the nuptial celebrations of the Archduke Ferdinand with Maria Beatrice d'Este, and premiered alongside a serenata of the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, called Ascanio in Alba. Mozart's work was a brilliant success. It was composed in the "modern" style, and included popular dance and choral tableaux. Hasse's opera, his final setting of a text by his friend Pietro Metastasio, was conservative, and adhered closely to the traditions of eighteenth century opera seria. It was a failure initially, but his contributions to the festivities were greatly appreciated by the royal family, who paid him in diamonds and gold out of respect for his musicianship and recognition for his longtime service to the Habspurgs. He was seventy-two when he composed Ruggiero. The opera premiered at the Regio Ducal Teatro of Milan on October sixteenth, 1771. Metastasio based the story of his opera on the final cantos of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, as well as several dramas and libretti from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries on the same subject. The medieval setting was somewhat exotic to the audience, and provided composer and librettist with an opportunity for spectacle and local color. However the subject of knights in combat with a warrior maiden was somewhat out of fashion for the times. The only other eighteenth century libretto which treats the subject of Bradamante is by a French author named Pierre-Charles Roy. There are several passages of recitative stromentato throughout the score, and over half of the arias are in a modified, or half da capo form, making the score somewhat innovative formally. Otherwise the conventions of opera seria are adhered to strictly, and the music shows Hasse at his most conservative and traditional. Mozart was greatly impressed by the arias, and learned all of the music by heart, for Hasse was known for his text settings, elegant orchestrations, and lyrical inspiration.

© Rita Laurance, Rovi