Griselda is Alessandro Scarlatti's last surviving complete opera. It was premiered at the Teatro Capranica in January 1721. The plot is based on the folklore tale of Patient Griselda, whose triumph is the triumph of love, fidelity, and obedience. She made her debut in literature with Boccaccio's Decameron, and Petrarch, Chaucer, and dozens of other authors have taken up the task of telling her tale. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, her story became opera over 35 times. The original libretto was by Apostolo Zeno, who created one of the most dramatically viable libretti extant. The problem for dramatists became making Griselda a sympathetic rather than an allegorical figure, and providing motivation for the seemingly senseless cruelty of her husband, which she endures with so much fortitude.

After the opening Italian Sinfonia, the form of the opera is made up of acts consisting of the recitative plus aria combination. The ending consists mainly of recitative passages which imitate speech and leave the drama in relief. The climax of these is the accompanied recitative of Griselda, as she finally forces a confrontation with her husband Gualtiero. But Costanza, the daughter, has a final grand aria, and there is an ensemble in which all the main characters take part at the very end to close the opera. It resembles a short chorus with orchestra and is very brief, but is an effective end to a dramatic high point.

Right before its premiere, the opera went through a great deal of changes because of the addition to its cast of Carestini, a promising young castrato. Carestini had a wealthy patron, and arranged to have his debut in Griselda in the role of Costanza, Griselda's long lost daughter. To make his debut as spectacular as possible, Scarlatti wrote three extra arias for him, and altered the existing arias to make them more showy, adding plenty of coloratura passages. He deleted four arias of other cast members to make Carestini's performance stand out even more. Carestini apparently had a very successful debut.

Griselda is an example of the trend toward opera seria. There are no comic scenes in Griselda and no bass roles. There are no display scenes, or scenes given over to spectacle in this work. There are no monsters, or mythological creatures, no gods or magicians, and no bloodshed. The story revolves around a moral theme, and the musical variety comes from Scarlatti's endless supply of inventiveness within standard forms. By this time, Scarlatti was considered a grand master of the Baroque style and of operatic composition, and in this opera, he rises to his reputation.

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