La Calisto

La Calisto is an opera by Francesco Cavalli with a libretto by Giovanni Faustini. The libretto was published in 1651 by Giuliani and Batti. The opera received its first performance on 28 November 1651 at the Teatro Sant 'Apollinare, Venice. At the time, the Sant 'Apollinare was equipped with complex stage machinery, which the theatre intended to use in the premiere production of La Calisto to impress audiences with stage spectacle. However, the first performances had small audiences, as the run of 11 performances from 28 November to 31 December 1651 attracted only about 1200 patrons to a theatre that housed 400. In addition, Faustini died during the first run, on 19 December.
The opera has been successfully revived in modern times. Raymond Leppard's "realisation" (as he termed his orchestrations) for Glyndebourne was significant for creating new audiences for baroque opera, although far removed from the original work; the recording of this production has been re-released on compact disc (see "Recordings" below).