About the work
Opera with a prologue and two acts by Alberto Franchetti, libretto by Luigi Illica, premiered on 11 March 1902 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan under Arturo Toscanini, with Enrico Caruso in one of the leading roles.
Plot
Set in Napoleon-occupied Germany during the Wars of Liberation, the opera follows the students Federico Loewe and Carlo Worms and the young Ricke, members of a student resistance movement. A love affair between Federico and Ricke clashes with the political struggle; the action leads up to the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, after which Ricke finds both of her companions dying on the battlefield.
Cultural significance
Germania became Franchetti's most successful opera and quickly reached major houses such as the Metropolitan Opera. Caruso popularised the aria "Studenti, udite" through early recordings; after decades of absence from the stage, Deutsche Oper Berlin revived the work in 2006.