About the work
Donizetti composed Alahor in Granata in 1825 as a two-act opera for the Teatro Carolino in Palermo, where he served as music director; the anonymously written libretto draws on Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian's 1793 tale Gonzalve de Cordoue. It premiered on 7 January 1826.
Plot
Set in Moorish Granada, the plot follows a power struggle around King Muley-Hassem into which Alahor, son of a former ruler, and his sister Zobeida are drawn through betrayal and conflicting loyalties.
Cultural significance
The premiere was praised by critics and audiences alike, but the opera was soon forgotten and its score long believed lost. A copy made for an 1830 production surfaced in Boston in 1970, enabling a first staged revival in Seville in 1998, while Donizetti's own autograph was found only in 2023, by the Fondazione Donizetti, in a library in Palermo. He later reused parts of the music in Emilia di Liverpool and in L'elisir d'amore.