Coriolano Transformed: The Early History of Ariosti’s First Royal Academy Opera

The Italian composer and diplomat Attilio Ariosti (1666–1729) first appeared in London in 1716. On 12 July he played solos on the viola d’amore between the acts of Handel’s Amadigi, and the next year his opera Tito Manlio closed the opera season with seven performances. He assisted the organizers of the Royal Academy of Music in 1719 during their negotiations with singers, and was apparently recruited to set Numitore to inaugurate the first season. Instead, he spent parts of the next two years in France, perhaps on diplomatic assignments. He was finally hired as a composer by the Academy for the 1722–23 season when he joined the incumbent composers Handel and Bononcini.1