About the work
Aureliano in Palmira is a dramma serio in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, set to a libretto signed only with the initials "G. F. R." and usually attributed to Felice Romani. It premiered on 26 December 1813 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Rossini's second commission for the house, with the castrato Giovanni Battista Velluti singing Arsace.
Plot
The plot dramatises the Roman emperor Aurelian's third-century campaign against Palmyra: Queen Zenobia and her ally, the Persian prince Arsace, defend their kingdom against Rome. Although Aurelian falls in love with his captive Zenobia, she and Arsace remain devoted to each other; the victorious emperor ultimately pardons the couple and lets them keep their thrones once they swear loyalty to Rome.
Cultural significance
The autograph score is lost, and the opera vanished from the stage within a few years. Its overture, however, endured: Rossini soon reused it for Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra and then for Il barbiere di Siviglia, where it remains one of the most frequently performed opera overtures, while the opera itself was only rediscovered through the Rossini Opera Festival.