 The composer, who was by then 73 years old, had acquired considerable prestige in Venice, having been director of music at St Mark's Basilica since 1613.The dedication in the revised and republished libretto describes him as "[the] most celebrated Apollo of the century and the highest intelligence of the heavens of humanity".The opera was received with great enthusiasm by a Venetian audience already familiar with the lament, which had been published in the city in 1623.