Ottone

Ottone, re di Germania (Otto, King of Germany; HWV 15) is an opera by George Frideric Handel, to an Italian-language libretto adapted by Nicola Francesco Haym from the libretto by Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino for Antonio Lotti's opera Teofane. It was the first new opera written for the Royal Academy of Music (1719)'s fourth season. Handel had completed the first version on 10 August 1722, but revised the opera before its first performance.
The premiere, on 12 January 1723 at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, also marked the London debut of Francesca Cuzzoni as Teofane. The opera was a great success in Handel's lifetime, and received revivals in December 1723, 1726, 1727 and 1733, in some cases with additional music. Ottone also is notable as the only Handel opera in which Farinelli appeared, in the role of Adelberto, in December 1734. In Germany, Ottone was staged in Brunswick (Braunschweig) and Hamburg in the 1720s. The next production in Germany, on 5 July 1921 in Göttingen, was the first revival of any Handel opera in the twentieth century. In the UK, the next production after 1734 was given by the Handel Opera Society on 19 October 1971 at Sadler's Wells Theatre.