Asked to pass judgement on a hypothetical situation in which a man seduces one woman before marrying another, Argippo declares that the only course of action is for the guilty party to murder his spouse and return to his previous lover, nobly agreeing to put his money where his mouth is when he himself is accused of the offence. (The reality is that Zanaida’s nocturnal visitor was in fact the nefarious courtier Silvero, who has previously failed to win her over on his own terms and decided that a spot of identity-theft might be worth a shot). Zanaida, daughter of Gran Mogol Tisifaro, has apparently ‘yielded her honour’ under cover of darkness to king Argippo, which makes his state visit to her father’s court with his new wife Osira more than slightly awkward. To say that the plot hasn’t aged well is putting it mildly.
You can always rely on Naïve’s enterprising Vivaldi Edition to deliver the goods at a time of year when new releases are generally thin on the ground, and today brings a superb account of Argippo, a pasticcio from the early 1730s which incorporates music by composers including Hasse, Porpora and Galeazzi as well as the Red Priest himself.
