page_title: List of operas set in the Crusades
section_title: 19th-century operas
hierarchical_section_title: List of operas set in the Crusades / List of operas / 19th-century operas
caption_attribution_description: Death of the trobador Jaufre Rudel, illumination, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 854, fol. 121v
context_page_description: Operas set against the background of the medieval Crusades can be found in the earliest examples of the art form and continue to be written into the 21st century. Many of the works listed here contain characters and plots based on real or legendary figures of the time such as Tancred, Prince of Galilee, Godfrey of Bouillon or Jaufre Rudel. The majority are set, at least in part, in the Holy Land and the surrounding region and deal with the conflicts between the Christians and Muslims. Others, such as Donizetti's Gabriella di Vergy, deal with the misadventures of knights returning from the Crusades. In the case of Gabriella di Vergy, Raoul de Coucy returns from the Third Crusade to find that his beloved Gabriella has married Lord Fayel. Following a duel, Fayel cuts out the heart of the unfortunate Raoul and presents it in an urn to Gabriella. The only comedy in the list, Rossini's Le comte Ory, recounts the attempts by Ory and his friends to seduce the Countess of Formoutiers and the women of her household while their men are away at the Crusades. Ory's ploy of dressing up as nuns to gain access to the women is foiled when the Crusaders return.
context_section_description: La Zaira (1802, Lisbon) composed by Marcos Antônio Portugal; libretto by Mattia Butturini, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  Zaira ossia Il trionfo della religione composed by Vincenzo Federici; libretto by Mattia Butturini, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  Zaira (1805) composed by Peter Winter; libretto by Filippo Pananti, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  Gabriella di Vergy (1816, Naples) composed by Michele Carafa; libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the tragedy Gabrielle de Vergy (1777) by Dormont De Belloy.
  Fayel (1817, Florence) composed by Carlo Coccia; libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the tragedy Gabrielle de Vergy (1777) by Dormont De Belloy.
  Armida (1817, Naples) composed by Gioachino Rossini; libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, after Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata
  Ricciardo e Zoraide (1818, Naples) composed by Gioachino Rossini; libretto by Francesco Berio de Salsa, after Niccolò Forteguerri's epic poem, Il Ricciardetto
  Pietro l'eremita (1822, London) composed by Gioachino Rossini; libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, a version of Rossini's Mosè in Egitto with the plot changed to one based on Peter the Hermit
  Il crociato in Egitto (1824, Venice) composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer; libretto by Gaetano Rossi, after Jean-Antoine-Marie Monperlier's Les Chevaliers de Malte set in the Sixth Crusade.
  Gabriella di Vergy (1826, first performed 1869, Naples) composed by Gaetano Donizetti; libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the tragedy Gabrielle de Vergy (1777) by Dormont De Belloy.
  Le comte Ory (1828, Paris) composed by Gioachino Rossini; libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson
  Gabriella di Vergy (1828, Lisbon) composed by Saverio Mercadante; libretto by Antonio Profumo, based on the tragedy Gabrielle de Vergy (1777) by Dormont De Belloy
  Zaira (1829, Parma) composed by Vincenzo Bellini; libretto by Felice Romani, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  Zaira (1829) composed by Alessandro Gandini; libretto by Felice Romani, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  Il talismano, ovvero La terza crociata in Palestina (1829, Milan) composed by Giovanni Pacini; libretto by Gaetano Barbieri, after Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Talisman
  Der Templer und die Jüdin (The Templar and the Jewess) (1829, Leipzig) composed by Heinrich Marschner, libretto by Wilhelm August Wohlbrück, after Sir Walter Scott's novel, Ivanhoe
  Zaira (1831, Naples) composed by Saverio Mercadante; libretto by Felice Romani, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  Ivanhoe (1832, Venice) composed by Giovanni Pacini; libretto by Gaetano Rossi
  Emma d'Antiochia (1834, Venice) composed by Saverio Mercadante; libretto by Felice Romani
  Il templario (1840, Turin) composed by Otto Nicolai; libretto by Girolamo Maria Marini, after Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe
  I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843, Milan) composed by Giuseppe Verdi; libretto by Temistocle Solera, after Tommaso Grossi's 1829 epic poem of the same name
  Die Kreuzfahrer (The Crusaders) (1844, Cassel) composed by Louis Spohr; libretto by Louis Spohr, after August von Kotzebue's play of the same name
  Richard en Palestine (1844, Paris) composed by Adolphe Adam; libretto by Paul Foucher based on Richard I of England in the Third Crusade
  Zaira (1845, Modena) composed by Antonio Mami; libretto by Felice Romani, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  The Crusaders (1846, London) composed by Julius Benedict; libretto by Alfred Bunn and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, which conflates events from the First Crusade (by way of Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata) and the Third Crusade.
  Jérusalem (1847, Paris) composed by Giuseppe Verdi; libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz
  Aroldo (1857, Rimini) composed by Giuseppe Verdi; libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
  Il talismano (1874, London) composed by Michael Balfe as The Knight of the Leopard and completed after his death by Michael Costa; libretto by Giuseppe Zaffira after Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Talisman
  Zaïre (1887, Lille) composed by Charles-Édouard Lefebvre; libretto by Paul Collin, after Voltaire's Zaïre
  Zaïre (1890, Paris), composed by Paul Véronge de la Nux; libretto by Édouard Blau and Louis Besson, after Voltaire's Za
caption: Jaufre Rudel dying in the arms of Hodierna of Tripoli (13th-century manuscript)
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