About the work
Atalia is a dramma sacro per musica in two acts by Johann Simon Mayr to a libretto by Felice Romani, drawing on Racine's tragedy Athalie. The impulse came from Rossini in 1815, who served as maestro concertatore at the Teatro San Carlo; delays meant that the fully staged work only reached the stage in 1822, in a revised version without the love subplot originally planned.
Plot
The usurping queen Atalia has the descendants of the House of David killed to secure her rule, until the heir Gioas, believed dead, appears in the temple and seals her downfall.
Cultural significance
Atalia belongs to the Neapolitan tradition of biblical Lenten dramas staged with full scenic apparatus at the Teatro San Carlo in place of secular opera. Its 1822 premiere is documented through Rossini's direct interventions in the score — cuts, changes and additions.