he musical festivities for a royal wedding at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua. The libretto was written in eight scenes by Ottavio Rinuccini, who used Ovid's Heroides and other classical sources to relate the story of Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus on the island of Naxos and her subsequent elevation as bride to the god Bacchus.The composer later said that the effort of creating the opera almost killed him. The first performance, produced
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