About the work
Farsa per musica (melodramma sentimentale) in one act by Pietro Generali to a libretto by Gaetano Rossi, first performed on 15 or 16 September 1810 at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice. For his text, Rossi reworked the French opéra comique 'Lisbeth' (1797) by André Grétry, relocating the action to a Swiss mountain village.
Plot
The young Adelina has been seduced by the officer Erneville, has borne his child, and is cast out of her father's house because of it. A well-meaning teacher takes her side until Erneville returns, admits his guilt and marries Adelina, after which her father too is reconciled with her.
Cultural significance
Adelina became the biggest success of the autumn 1810 season at the Teatro San Moisè – shortly before the same theatre premiered 'La cambiale di matrimonio', the first farsa by the young Gioachino Rossini, who would soon displace Generali as the leading composer of the genre in Venice. The work continued to be staged into the 1830s in cities including Munich, Barcelona, Dresden, Stuttgart, Amsterdam and Lisbon, and was revived in 2010 at the Rossini in Wildbad festival.