Dafne in lauro (Daphne as a laurel tree) is a chamber opera, a componimento per camera, composed by
Johann Joseph Fux to a
libretto by
Pietro Pariati and performed for the imperial court before dinner on 1 October 1714 in the Favorita garden, Vienna, for the birthday of
Emperor Charles VI.[1] The opera is based on the myth of
Apollo and Daphne, where Daphne pleads to
Diana to be saved from Apollo's pursuit of her and is turned into a laurel tree.[2][3]
Library of Congress (Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1714).
References
^Harry White, Johann Joseph Fux and the Music of the Austro-Italian Baroque, 2017. "This was Dafne in Lauro, which was first performed in the Favorita garden before dinner on 1 October, 1714." The two main roles, Apollo and Dafne, with four arias each, were sung by Orsini and Maria Conti-Landini; the soprano part, Diana, was ... the sixteen-year-old soprano castrato Giovanni Vincenzi played Amore – often sung by boys – and the tenor Garghetti sang the role of Mercurio.