Croesus (opera)
opera by Reinhard Keiser
Der hochmütige, gestürzte und wieder erhabene Croesus (The Proud, Overthrown and Again Exalted Croesus) is a three-act opera (described as a "Singe-Spiel") composed by Reinhard Keiser. The German language libretto by Lucas von Bostel was based on Nicolò Minato's 1678 dramma per musica Creso, the music for which was composed by the Emperor Leopold I.
Keiser's Croesus received its first performance at the Theater am Gänsemarkt, Hamburg, in 1711 (exact date unknown). Later, the composer extensively revised the opera for a new version, which premièred at the same theatre on 6 December 1730. In the process, he discarded much of the original material, and, in consequence, only the 1730 version has survived in complete form.
The first performance in modern times was given in 1990 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris (conductor René Clemencic), and first full performance in turn was given in 1999 at the Berlin State Opera (conductor: René Jacobs). The first British performance was given, in English, by Opera North on 17 October 2007, at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. It was conducted by Harry Bicket, designed by Leslie Travers and directed by Tim Albery. The opera received its North American premiere on 1 March 2008, when Albery's production was performed (in German) by the Minnesota Opera at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.
Roles
Croesus, King of Lydia (tenor)
Atis (Atys), his son (sopranist)
Halimacus, Atis's confidant (countertenor)
Orsanes, a member of Croesus's court (baritone)
Eliates, a member of Croesus's court (tenor)
Clerida, a member of Croesus's court (soprano)
Elmira, daughter of the exiled queen of the Medes (soprano)
Cyrus the Great, King of Persia (bass)
Solon, a philosopher (baritone)
Elcius, a servant in Croesus's court (tenor)
Trigesta, Elmira's attendant (soprano)
A Persian captain (baritone)
Synopsis
The story is loosely based on two incidents from Herodotus. Time: the 6th century B.C.E., place: Lydia.
“Croesus (opera)” enters the record as opera by Reinhard Keiser. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Croesus, opera and Reinhard can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3003178. VIAF identifies the subject as 178478872. The Library of Congress control number is no2005082531. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1678, 1711, 1730 and 1990.
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This entry incorporates text from “Croesus (opera)” 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.