About the work
Dramma storico-lirico in three acts (five parts) by Jacopo Foroni to a libretto by Giovanni Carlo Casanova, first performed in May 1849 at the Royal Theatre (Kungliga Teatern) in Stockholm. It was Foroni's second opera and the work with which he introduced himself to Swedish audiences, dedicated to King Oscar I of Sweden.
Plot
The opera portrays the final weeks of Queen Christina of Sweden before her abdication in 1654: her unrequited love for the minister Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, who is secretly drawn to Maria Eufrosina, is intertwined with a conspiracy at court. In the end Christina renounces the throne, handing the crown to her cousin Karl Gustav.
Cultural significance
Foroni wove the Swedish folk tune 'Näckens polska' into the overture and was awarded the Order of Vasa for the premiere's success; Hans Christian Andersen, who attended, wrote enthusiastically about it. After decades of neglect, the opera was revived in concert in 2007 and then, in a widely noted staging by Wexford Festival Opera, in 2013.