Lucio Silla K. 135

On 13 December 1769, Leopold Mozart and his son Wolfgang set out on their first tour of Italy. It was not until 28 March 1771 that they finally returned to Salzburg. The trip brought the young composer two commissions for opere serie. In March 1770, he was commissioned to write Mitridate, K.87 (74a), for the 1770–71 Carneval season at the Regio Ducal Teatro in Milan. Mozart started work on the opera in Bologna on 29 September 1770, and the première duly took place on the Feast of St. Stephen (26 December) in 1770. The second, Lucio Silla (K. 135), again commissioned for the 1771–72 Carneval season in Milan, doubtless resulted from the success of Mitridate. News of the commission reached the Mozarts in March 1771 in Verona, where they had stopped on their return to Salzburg. (At roughly the same time, Wolfgang received an invitation from Vienna to supply a serenata teatrale for the wedding of Archduke Ferdinand, the third son of Maria Theresia, scheduled to take place in Milan in October 1771. This invitation ultimately resulted in Ascanio in Alba, K. 111.)