Il Demofonte, also: Demofonte, Demofoonte or Demofont (Russian and Ukrainian: Демофонт or Демофон) is an opera seria by the Ukrainian composer Maksym Berezovsky (1745–1777) composed in 1773 to an Italian libretto by Pietro Metastasio. The opera libretto Il Demofonte was written by Metastasio in 1731 (or 1733) and became immensely popular. By 1800 it had inspired at least 73 operas (according to the Encyclopaedia Musical St. Petersburg: The 18th Century) The version by Maksym Berezovsky is especially important for music history as the first opera by a Russian as well as a Ukrainian composer. Creation and performance history Berezovsky worked on the opera during his 4-year stay in Italy. It was for a winter carnival in Livorno, where a Russian flotilla was anchored, written at the request of his patron, count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian fleet. The opera was premiered in February 1773 and was well received by the local press. The review in the Livorno newspaper Notizie del mondo published on February 27, 1773 noted that the “opera with music composed by Maestro Beresovsky, the Russian maestro di cappella at the service of Her Majesty the Empress of the whole Russia, combines liveliness and good taste with the possession of musical science”. The full score of the opera has been lost and is preserved only in a few remaining fragments: sinfonia (that regarded as the first Symphony of a Russian/Ukrainian composer), which probably served as an introduction to the opera, and four arias: Sinfonia in C major (1770–1773) in three short movements listen to the beginning of Sinfonia Aria of Demofonte “Per lei fra l’armi” Aria of Demofonte “Mentre il cor con meste voci” Aria of Timante "Prudente mi chiedi" from Act II listen to the introduction to the Aria Aria of Timante "Misero pargoletto" from Act III, Scene 5 It is known via Sergei Prokofiev that Sergei Diaghilev had an intention to re-stage the opera; however, this plan had not been realized. The arias were published in Kiev in 1988. The recording of the Sinfonia and two Timante’s Arias now are available on a CD (Maxim Berezovsky: Secular Music, SACD CM 0022003, 54:48) Roles Demofonte Dircea Creusa Timante Cherinto Matusio A playbill featuring the singers' names was found by Robert-Aloys Mooser and published in Annales de la Musique et des Musiciens en Russie au XVIIIe siècle (Geneva, 1948). It reads: Demofonte, dramma seria. Musica