Mitridate, re di Ponto
(Mithridates King of Pontus)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756 - 1791.
Dramma per musica in three acts. 1770. Libretto by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi, after a translation of Racine's Mithridate by Giuseppe Parini.
First performance at the Regio Ducal Teatro, Milan, on 26th December 1770.

Aspasia, betrothed to Mithridates, is loved by his two sons, Pharnaces and Xiphares and reciprocates the love of the latter. Pharnaces conspires with the Roman Marcius against his father, but Mithridates, rumoured dead in his struggle against the Romans, returns, fearing the disloyalty of both of his sons, but reassured by Arbates of the loyalty of Xiphares. Pharnaces is betrothed to the Parthian Ismene, whom he rejects, and Mithridates, now about to renew his warfare against Pompey, distrusts Aspasia and imprisons both his sons when Pharnaces reveals the love of Xiphares for Aspasia, although Xiphares had honourably decided to leave Aspasia and Pontus. Aspasia now rejects Mithridates, who sends her poison, which Xiphares stops her drinking. In battle the King is victorious but wounds himself mortally, returning to unite Aspasia and Xiphares and to forgive Pharnaces, who has acted against the Romans, and join him in marriage to Ismene.

Among some eighteen operas based on Racine's play, from the 1707 work of Alessandro Scarlatti onwards, Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto (Mithridates, King of Pontus) remains the best known, if because of the composer's later achievement and distinction. Mozart's age, fourteen in 1770, caused opposition in Milan, but in the event the opera won an enthusiastic reception from a usually critical public. The work starts with an overture in the three-movement Italian sinfonia tradition. The score includes a moving farewell for Xiphares, now intending to leave Aspasia and Pontus, in Lungi da te, mio bene (Far from you, my beloved). In the scene that opens the second act Pharnaces rejects Ismene in Va, l'error mio palesa (Go, my mistake is clear) and he later admits to his father his guilt and treachery in Son reo: l'error confesso (I am guilty: I admit my mistake).