| Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra | |
|---|---|
| dramma per musica by Gioachino Rossini | |
 Portrait of the composer | |
| Librettist | Giovanni Schmidt |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Il paggio di Leicester by Carlo Federici |
| Premiere | 4 October 1815 Teatro San Carlo, Naples |
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (Italian pronunciation: [elizaˈbɛtta reˈdʒiːna diŋɡilˈtɛrra]; Elizabeth, Queen of England) is a dramma per musica or opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, from the play Il paggio di Leicester (Leicester's Page) by Carlo Federici, which itself "was derived from a novel The Recess (1785) by Sophia Lee."[1]
It was premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 4 October 1815 and was the first of nine operas which Rossini wrote for the San Carlo.[2] Altogether, this was one of eighteen operas which he wrote during the time he spent in Naples.[3]
Rossini took melodies from other operas to compose Elisabetta, including the overture, first written for Aureliano in Palmira, which is more famous as the overture to The Barber of Seville. As Holden notes, with the re-uses of earlier music, "it is as if Rossini wished to present himself to the Neapolitan public by offering a selection of the best music from operas unlikely to have been revived in Naples."[4]
Some of Elisabetta's music was recycled in later operas and a part of Elisabetta's first aria was re-used by Rossini four months later in Rosina's aria "Una voce poco fa" in the opera The Barber of Seville.[5]
- ^ Opera Scotland website at operascotland.org. Retrieved 17 December 2012
- ^ Osborne, Richard 1998, "Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
- ^ Osborne, Richard and Philip Gossett 1998, "Rossini, Gioachino", in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
- ^ Holden 2001, p. 775
- ^ Osborne, Richard, Rossini 1990, pp. 174–75