About the work
Adelasia ed Aleramo is a two-act melodramma serio by Johann Simon Mayr to a libretto by Luigi Romanelli. It premiered on 26 December 1806 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and was staged across Italy and in London until 1815, with a German version reaching Budapest in 1808 and Berlin in 1811.
Plot
Princess Adelasia and the commoner Aleramo fall in love against the wishes of her father, Emperor Otto II, and flee to a modest life together. Years later Otto campaigns against the Saracens in their region and the family is reunited. His confidant Rambaldo, who covets the throne himself, falsely accuses Aleramo of treason to force Adelasia into marriage, but the plot fails and the couple is reunited.
Cultural significance
After more than two centuries without a staging, the opera returned in 2013 at Munich's Prinzregententheater, conducted by Andreas Spering and directed by Tilman Knabe.