About the work
"Alessandro Stradella" is a romantic opera in three acts by Friedrich von Flotow to a libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese, first performed on 30 December 1844 at the Stadttheater in Hamburg. It grew out of a one-act vaudeville version Flotow had premiered in Paris in 1837 and later expanded into a full-length opera.
Plot
The plot loosely follows the life of the Roman singer and composer Alessandro Stradella. Stradella elopes with his pupil Leonore, escaping her guardian Bassi in Venice for the countryside near Rome. Two assassins hired by Bassi, Malvolino and Barbarino, are so moved by Stradella's singing that they abandon their mission, and when Stradella performs a hymn to the Virgin Mary, even Bassi is reconciled with the couple.
Cultural significance
The opera was long popular on German and Austrian stages during the 19th century but was gradually overshadowed by Flotow's later opera "Martha", written three years afterward; by its Metropolitan Opera premiere in 1910 it was already considered nearly forgotten.