AcontiusCydippe1.0008

Carl Christian Agthe (1762-1797) Acontius und Cydippe opera (singspiel), with "libretto based upon Ovid" (cf. Härtwig). First performed possibly 1780, Reval, Estonia (or c. 1784, Ballenstedt?). Music lost.

Acontius binds unwitting Cydippe to marriage by writing on an apple (or orange) the words "I will marry no man but Acontius." When Cydippe reads the oath, she is bound.

A tale originating with Callimachus, it was of interest to Ovid (the most Callimachean of the Roman poets?). Dryden is not the first, but perhaps the most influential English poet to treat the tale.

Härtwig, Dieter. 2001. Oxford Music Online, s.v. "Agthe, Carl Christian" doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.00318.

Clément, F. and P. Larousse. 1969. Dictionnaire des opéras. 2 vols. Paris 1869. Reprint of Rev. ed. by A. Pougin (1905), New York: Da Capo, 1969. — See 1:283.

The image at right depicts Angelica Kauffmann's "Acontius and Cydippe" (before 1771). It is chosen, because I could find no suitable image to pair with Agthe's opera.