Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri

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The Story

In 1810, Mustafà, Bey of Algiers and thoroughly fed up with his wife, the docile Elvira, orders the captain of the corsairs to find him one of those feisty Italian women. It turns out to be Isabella, an Italian woman of unparalleled beauty searching for her fiancé Lindoro, whom Mustafà happens to be holding captive in his seraglio. The Bey intends to give Lindoro to his wife Elvira, hoping to get rid of him once and for all. Isabella, accompanied by her annoying suitor Taddeo—whom she passes off as her uncle to save him from the gallows—relies on her powers of seduction. “L’italiana in Algeri” (The Italian Girl in Algiers) is a two-act dramma giocoso (opera buffa) by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Angelo Anelli. It premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on May 22, 1813. Recorded in the studios of Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) in Milan on July 10, 1957.