Semiramide

by Rossini

[This synopsis, like my others, is very, very brief. The reason is that I find the normal programme note much too long, and needlessly detailed and complicated. What I want is more of an overview. If I’ve read an overview – a sort of synopsis of a synopsis – I find that, particularly with the help of surtitles, there is then absolutely no need for a blow-by-blow description of the plot.]

Semiramide, by Rossini, is based on a story by Voltaire, with overtones of Hamlet and Oedipus, complicated by the fact that many of the characters have similar names beginning with A and by the fact that the military commander is played by a woman.

Semiramide is Queen of Babylon, widow of King Nino. Everyone awaits her decision on the succession.

The candidates are: Assur, a prince about whom the High Priest seems to have doubts; Idreno, an Indian king (curiously); and Arsace, the commander of the Assyrian army. All of the above are in love with Azema, a Babylonian princess. She seems confused about her affections, but knows that she doesn’t love Assur. To complicate matters, Semiramide is in love with Arsace.

The drama really starts at the end of Act 1 when Semiramide declares her choice: Arsace. King Nino’s ghost appears amidst general uproar, predicting that Arsace will reign but that various crimes will be punished.

In Act 2 it turns out that Assur and Semiramide killed King Nino by poisoning him – and possibly his and Semiramide’s son Ninia too. But no, the High Priest tells Arsace that Ninia survived and that he, Arsace, is Ninia.

So, Arsace discovers that his mother is in love with him and that she, in collaboration with Assur, killed his father.

(Incidentally, Idreno is upset but comforted that he gets Azema, who stills seems doubtful.)

To conclude, Semiramide, Assur and Arsace all go to King Nino’s tomb, which is in darkness and pervaded by the spirit of the murdered king. In the gloom, Arsace kills Semiramide mistaking her for Assur. Assur is arrested. Arsace becomes King.