Prince Anton Esterházy, faced with staging important festivities in 1791 in the absence of his court composer Haydn, turned to the young Viennese musician Joseph Weigl. He commissioned a dramatic work on a libretto by Giovanni Battista Casti to be performed by members of the Viennese court opera. Inspired by these musicians (including three soloists who had created roles in Mozart’s operas) and by the prospect of an audience that included some of the Habsburg monarchy’s wealthiest and most influ...