This opera was first performed in Naples at the Palazzo Reale on April 21, 1672. Conductor and musicologist Antonio Florio has revised the manuscript, enabling the modern-day premiere of this gem—a work that predated the true dawn of opera in Naples.

"Lo Schiavo di sua moglie" is based on the myth of Hercules and the Amazons, specifically the mighty demigod's ninth labor: seizing the magical belt—a gift from Ares, the god of war—from their queen, Hippolyta.

Rather than focusing on the dramatic events of that feat itself, Provenzale’s opera uses the wartime setting merely as a starting point. Instead, it centers on the romantic entanglements that ensnare the characters after the conflict has ended with the Amazons' defeat. Ultimately, love triumphs over war, though this victory does not entirely dispel the initial tension.

Initially, the victors use this "love" as a tool of domination—a form of possession akin to the spoils of war. Hercules, for instance, decides which of the Amazons he will claim for himself. Yet, the god of Love—acting beyond the will of mere mortals or demigods—has already lost his arrows, sparking a chain of romantic mishaps and misunderstandings worthy of a Shakespearean comedy.