The action takes place in Rome during the war against the town of Alba Longa. The protagonists of the opera are two families, the Horatii from Rome and the Curiatii from Alba. In spite of the state of war the two families are connected as a girl from the Curiatii, Sabina, has married Marcus Horatius, the designate heir of the Roman family. During a truce in the war Horatius' daughter Horatia is in her turn given in marriage to her beloved Curiatius, leader of the Alban family. In order to avoid further major damage the two kings, Tullus Hostilius and Mettius Fufetius, reach an agreement to settle contention between the two towns through a limited encounter to the death between six champions, three from the Horatii and three from the Curiatii. The news of the agreement drives the two families to despair as the two sisters-in-law are doomed to weep over the death of either their husbands or their brothers. In act two Horatia and Sabina, supported by the people and the priests, endeavour to prevent the abomination of a mortal challenge between relatives by swarming over the Campo Martio just as the struggle is about to start. They manage to wring a postponement in order to allow Apollo's oracle to be consulted. Both families warriors accept this decision reluctantly. Act two ends in a grand scene in the vaults of Apollo's temple: at first Curiatius and Horatia appear there alone, later they are joined by all the others and Curatius bewails the sad fate of those who are possibly going to shed their relatives' blood. Finally the oracle's voice proclaims that the challenge must go on. Act three is shorter than the others and is generally staged along with act two. After a farewell scene between Curiatius and Horatia it shows the final encounter between Marcus Horatius, victorious in the fight, and his distressed sister. Horatia, rebelling against her fate, calls down curses from the gods upon her native town which has driven her husband to a bloody death and is in her turn slain by her furious ruthless brother and flung headlong down the staircase. Roles References Notes Sources Celletti, Rodolfo, Introductory essay, which has been quoted directly from its English translation save few minor, but necessary, adaptations from booklet accompanying the first world recording of Gli Orazii e i Curiazii, Bongiovanni, 1983 Florimo, Francesco, La Scuola Musicale