About the work
Eduardo e Cristina is a dramma in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, whose libretto was originally written by Giovanni Schmidt in 1810 for Stefano Pavesi's opera 'Odoardo e Cristina' and reworked for Rossini by Andrea Leone Tottola and Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini. It premiered on 24 April 1819 at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, composed in great haste less than a month after the premiere of Rossini's 'Ermione'.
Plot
Cristina, daughter of the Swedish king Carlo, is secretly married to the victorious general Eduardo and has a son with him, Gustavo. While the king plans to marry her to Prince Giacomo of Scotland, the secret marriage is discovered; Carlo has the couple imprisoned and threatened with death. Only when Eduardo defeats the invading Russian army does the king pardon the pair and recognise their union.
Cultural significance
Rossini reused 19 of the opera's 26 musical numbers from his own earlier works, including "Adelaide di Borgogna", "Ricciardo e Zoraide" and "Ermione", though he thoroughly reworked them. The premiere nonetheless became one of the great successes of his Venetian years, lasting some six hours because of the many encores demanded, with Lord Byron reportedly among the audience. The opera vanished from the stage after 1840 and returned only in 2023, when the Rossini Opera Festival gave it its first modern Italian revival.