Just another Baroque opera? Agostino Steffani’s Niobe, Regina di Tebe, based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, offers a complex plot involving gods, mortals, jealousy, and revenge. Niobe, Queen of Thebes, declares herself superior to the goddess Latona because she has borne fourteen children. To avenge this insult, the god Apollo and goddess Diana kill Niobe’s children, and King Anfione (husband of Niobe), seeing their lifeless bodies, kills himself in despair. At the death of her husband and children Niobe, weeping, turns to stone, and her grief is so great that her petrified eyes continue to produce tears.

Italian-born but Germany-based Steffani offers a sumptuous score, drawing not only on German and Italian styles, but with a strong French influence, evident during the overture and in the frequent use of gavotte and minuet dance metres for the arias. Although lengthy (almost four hours), the singing is unfailingly beautiful and the drama gripping, making this recording an enjoyable and engaging listen. Soprano Karina Gauvin (Niobe) stands out for her luscious tone and sensitive characterisation, and countertenor Philipe Jaroussky (Anfione) dazzles with his virtuosic coloratura. Steffani may be obscure compared his contemporaries, but his little-known Niobe is so much more than just another Baroque opera.

Alexandra Mathew