Steffani’s Amor vien dal Destino: new answers to old questions

Steffani made an important contribution to the cultivation of Italian opera in north Germany. Amor vien dal Destino must have been composed at Hanover in the 1690s but was not performed until 1709, at Düsseldorf. Several questions arise. Was it meant for 1694, the only year during his period at Hanover when there was no opera at the court? If so, why was it not performed? Why was it not performed before 1709? Why was it then staged at Düsseldorf? Why and how was the opera revised for that production? Who were the singers involved? Answers emerge from consideration of the Düsseldorf wordbook (especially its preface), of the autograph score and a hitherto neglected manuscript copy in Hanover, and of the circumstances of the two courts concerned. If these answers are correct, they demonstrate a close relationship between the opera and its social and political context.