Ifigenia in Aulide (1782)

This 'serious opera' draws on Racine and quotes Pausanius, Book II. The New Grove Opera article on Bertoni lists this production as the second production of the composer's Ifigenia in Aulide originally written for Turin in 1762 (Production ID 10800). However, the libretto for the London 1782 production states that the music was new. The lists of dramatis personae in the libretti for Turin and London also do not match, so effectively in 1782 Bertoni was working with a libretto which was new or at least substantially revised. It is likely that his music was not 'entirely new' (as the title of the libretto states), but rather pasted together arias from his older works, unheard on the London stage before. The libretto is advertised as 'with additions and alterations by signor A. Andrei'. It is unclear whether this refers to Cigna Santi's libretto which Bertoni had used in 1762, or an earlier London version which has otherwise not been documented. The latter is likely and would explain why the libretto has two different cast lists. McClymonds in New Grove Opera suggests that the libretto for this production was in fact based on the libretto by Luigi Serio (Naples 1779; Sartori ID 1779), not on Cigna-Santi: Serio's version can be identified by the absence of Clytemnestra and the presence of Elisena, the ‘other’ Iphigenia, who dies instead of the heroine. The libretto also lists names of ten dancers choreographed by Noverre, but at no point in the dramatic text are there any cues for ballets. It is thus likely, that the ballets for the evening were interval entertainment not related to the plot.