Zelmira

Zelmira is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola. Based on the French play, Zelmire by de Belloy, it was the last of the composer's Neapolitan operas. Stendhal called its music Teutonic, comparing it with La clemenza di Tito but remarking: "...while Mozart would probably, had he lived, have grown completely Italian, Rossini may well, by the end of his career, have become more German than Beethoven himself!"
The first performance of Zelmira was in Naples at the Teatro di San Carlo on February 16, 1822. This was followed by a successful premiere in Vienna on 13 April 1822, as part of a three-month long Rossini Festival for which Rossini wrote some additional music. Performances in several Italian cities followed, and then the London premiere on 24 January 1824 with Rossini conducting and his now-wife, Isabella Colbran, in the title role. It was seen in Paris in 1826. There was one presentation in the US in New Orleans "around" 1835.