About the work
Ezio is a two-act opera by Saverio Mercadante to Pietro Metastasio's libretto of the same name. It premiered in February 1827 at the Teatro Regio in Turin, but without success.
Plot
The Roman general Ezio, victor over Attila, is falsely accused by the patrician Massimo of conspiring against Emperor Valentiniano, who has himself set his sights on Ezio's betrothed, Fulvia. Only after Ezio saves the emperor's life does Valentiniano recognise his innocence and grant him Fulvia's hand.
Cultural significance
Metastasio's libretto, already some two hundred years old, had previously been set by around fifty composers, including Handel and Gluck; Mercadante's version joins this long tradition but, unlike his later reform operas, achieved no lasting success.