“Eccomi alfine in Babilonia…Ah! Quel giorno” from Semiramide (1823)

Arsace Act 1

On his first appearance in Semiramide, Arsace enters the temple of Baal with the mixed feelings he expresses in “Eccomi alfine in Babilonia.” As a brilliant young commander in a distant region of the country, he has been summoned by Queen Semiramide for reasons which he doesn’t yet understand but which he hopes will help him secure the hand of Princess Azema. In fact, the opposite is true in that Semiramide – who turns out to be not only his mother but also the murderer of his father – wants to marry him and make him King of Babylon…

Preceded by the dramatic scena “Eccomi alfine in Babilonia” and modestly designated as a cavatina, “Ah! Quel giorno” is one of the most resourcefully written and, after the tempo changes from Andantino to Allegro on “Oh! Come da quel di,” one of the most thrilling of all Rossini’s many brilliant mezzo and contralto arias. It is also one of the last of its kind in Italian since after Semiramide (first performed at La Fenice, Venice, in 1823) he was to write only one more opera to an Italian libretto.