About the work
Lotario is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, its libretto adapted from Antonio Salvi's Adelaide. It opened Handel's newly founded second opera company at the King's Theatre in London, premiering there on 2 December 1729.
Plot
The plot draws on the historical conflict between Berengar of Ivrea and Otto I over the Italian crown and Otto's marriage to Queen Adelaide in 951. Because Handel had already written an opera about Otto II titled Ottone, the title character here was renamed Lotario.
Cultural significance
Lotario marked the start of Handel's partnership with theatre manager John James Heidegger and his new prima donna Anna Strada. The public reception was lukewarm; after nine performances the opera went unrevived for a long time and remains one of Handel's less frequently staged works.