Maria Antonia Walpurgis of Bavaria

• Name — Maria Antonia of Bavaria • Full Name — Maria Antonia Walpurgis Symphorosa • Succession — Electress consort of Saxony • Reign — 5 October 1763 – 17 December 1763 • Reign Type — Tenure • Born — 18 July 1724 • Birthplace — Nymphenburg Palace, Munich • Died — 23 April 1780 • Place of death — Dresden • Burial Place — Katholische Hofkirche • House — Wittelsbach • Father — Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor • Mother — Maria Amalia of Austria • Issue — * Frederick Augustus I of Saxony • Anthony, King of Saxony • Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony • Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Saxony

Baptized Maria Antonia Walpurgis Symphorosa, she was born at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich to Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria and Elector Karl Albert of Bavaria. Throughout her life, she received an outstanding education, particularly in the arts, including painting and writing poetry, as well as music. She was the second of seven children of the Elector and his wife.

A marriage by proxy took place in Munich on 13 June 1747 to Frederick Christian, the heir to the Electorate of Saxony, while they would wed in person in Dresden on 20 June 1747. That same year she became a member of the Accademia dell'Arcadia of Rome, a significant institution in operatic reform. With her marriage, she moved to Dresden. She had nine children with Friedrich Christian, seven of whom survived infancy.

She left Dresden during the Seven Years' War and took refuge in Prague and Munich, but returned at her husband’s accession to the throne in 1763. He died ten weeks later, and their son Frederick Augustus succeeded him. Her son being a minor, she served as joint regent with her brother-in-law Franz Xavier until her son reached legal majority in 1768. During her regency, she opposed her co-regent's act to give up her son's claim to the throne of Poland in 1765. She also founded a textile factory in 1763 and a brewery in 1766.

• Illustration — Portrait of Maria Antonia by Pietro Rotari While in Munich, Maria Antonia studied music with renowned opera composers Giovanni Battista Ferrandini and Giovanni Porta. After moving to Dresden, she continued her studies with Giovanni Alberto Ristori, Nicola Porpora and Johann Adolph Hasse. Indeed, opera played a major part throughout Maria Antonia's life. The court of Munich celebrated her birth with a performance of the opera Amadis de Grecia by Pietro Torri. Her betrothal to Friedrich Christian was likewise celebrated with opera performances, including Hasse's La Spartana generosa, sets by Bibiena, and Gluck's opera Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe. Shortly after moving to Dresden, she penned the libretto for Hasse's oratorio, La conversione di Sant'Agostino (1750), in addition to her composing work. Her own compositional style shows a strong affinity for that of Hasse, especially his conception of opera seria. She also performed actively as a singer and keyboard player in court performances, including leading roles in both of her operas. In addition to her two operas, a number of arias, a pastorale, intermezzos, meditations and motets are attributed to her.

The Amazon queen Thalestris appears in numerous works from Greek mythology, and, like many stories and mythic sequences, it became a frequent subject for works throughout the late Middle Ages and beyond. The French poet Gautier de Coste LaCalprenède revived the tale in the novel Cassandre (1644–1650), though the story was altered from the semi-historical account involving Alexander the Great to one involving Orontes, Prince of the Massagetes, as the male foil to Talestris. Several operas took on the same principle over the next century, with Maria Antonia crafting her own libretto and music. The plot centers on Talestris' relationship with a Scythian ruler, Orontes, as in LaCalprenède's version. In addition to the title character, two other prominent characters are women: Antiope, her advisor who also falls in love with a Scythian man, Learchus; and Tomiris, the high priestess of Diana, who is — as revealed near the end of the opera — the mother of Orontes. Ultimately, the plot ends happily, with each couple united and war averted, as the Scythians and Amazons manage to peacefully co-exist. The depiction of the benevolent, thoughtful ruler Talestris coming to be a political leader suggests the possibility that the opera is a semi-autobiographical rendering of Maria Antonia herself.

• Il trionfo della fedeltà: opera, libretto by Maria Antonia (Dresden, summer 1754) • Talestri, regina delle amazzoni: opera, libretto by Maria Antonia (Nymphenburg, 6 February 1760)