Cesare e Cleopatra
opera by Carl Heinrich Graun
Cesare e Cleopatra is a dramma per musica, that consists of three acts, by composer Carl Heinrich Graun. The opera uses an Italian-language libretto by Giovan Gualberto Bottarelli.
Performances
It was commissioned by Frederick II of Prussia for the opening of the newly built Königliches Opernhaus (Royal Opera House) in Berlin, and was notably the inaugural performance of the newly formed Berlin State Opera.
Although construction of the opera house was not entirely complete, the opera premiered in the new theatre using a German language translation on 7 December, 1742, under the baton of the composer. The production starred soprano Maria Giovanna Gasparini as Cleopatra VII and castrato Paolo Bedeschi as Julius Caesar.
Recordings
1992 on the Serenissima label (360171), live: Jacobs/Williams-J/Dawson/Beronesi/Popken/Francis/Rayam/Trekel
1995 on the HM label (mis-titled "Cleopatra e Cesare"): René Jacobs; Janet Williams (Cleopatra), Iris Vermillion (Cesare), Lynne Dawson (Cornelia), Robert Gambill (Tolomeo), Ralf Popken (Arsace), Jeffrey Francis (Lentulo), Klaus Häger (Achilla), Elisabeth Scholl (Cneo), María Cristina Kiehr (Sesto). RIAS Kammerchor, Concerto Köln. Recorded Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin-Dahlem April–May 1995.
“Cesare e Cleopatra” enters the record as opera by Carl Heinrich Graun. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Cesare, Cleopatra and opera can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Cesare e Cleopatra” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Cesare, Cleopatra and opera provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5065517. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1742, 1992 and 1995.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Cesare e Cleopatra”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Cesare e Cleopatra primary sources, Cesare e Cleopatra archive and Cesare research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cesare e Cleopatra”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Cesare e Cleopatra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.