Libretto: Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Alceste. Tragedia per musica (Vienna: Ghelen, 1767). This tragedia per musica contained ballets. This is the first, Italian version of Gluck's opera based on Alkestis. The original Italian production in 1676 was a great success and achieved 60 performances. Another production took place in 1768 (Sartori ID 591). For yet another Viennese production in 1770 Sartori ID 593) Gluck rewrote the role of Admeto for the soprano castrato Giuseppe Millico. Further productions in Vienna: 1781 (Sartori ID 598) and 1786. Local premières elsewhere in Europe include Copenhagen 1775 (Sartori ID 594), Padua 1777 (Sartori ID 595), Bologna 1778 (Sartori ID 596), Lille 1783, Hanover 1783, Naples 1785 (Sartori ID 599), Florence 1786 (Sartori ID 601), London 1795, Berlin 1796 (Sartori ID 604) (previously a selection of scenes given in Berlin in concert in 1785, Sartori ID 21099), St Petersburg 1798, Moscow 1803, Trieste 1804. For the 1776 production in Paris Gluck revised the opera to such an extent, that the result amounts almost to a recomposition, see APGRD ID 5913. The French version remains in the repertoire; the Italian version has been rarely revived since the 18th century. It was recorded in 1956 with Kirsten Flagstad in the title role.