About the work
Otello, ossia Il moro di Venezia is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsa after Shakespeare's tragedy. The premiere took place on 4 December 1816 at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples. For more than seven decades it remained the definitive operatic setting of the Othello story, until Verdi's opera of the same name displaced it from the repertoire in 1887.
Plot
Otello returns to Venice as a victorious general. He has secretly married Desdemona, but her father Elmiro intends her for Rodrigo, son of the Doge. The jealous Rodrigo allies himself with the scheming Iago, who passes Otello an incriminating letter of Desdemona's and leads him to believe that she loves Rodrigo. In despair, Desdemona withdraws to her chambers and sings the famous "Willow Song" (Canzone del Salice), in which she laments her fate. Blinded by jealousy, Otello forces his way into her bedchamber and stabs her. When Iago's treachery is uncovered, Otello takes his own life over the body of his wife.
Cultural significance
Rossini's Otello is regarded as a milestone of Italian bel canto opera and as the most important operatic setting of Shakespeare before Verdi. The work is renowned for its extraordinary casting of three virtuoso tenor roles — a unique demand of the bel canto repertoire. The famous "Canzone del Salice" in the third act is considered one of the most moving moments of early Romantic opera; Stendhal called it the most beautiful thing Rossini ever composed. Until the premiere of Verdi's Otello in 1887, Rossini's version dominated the opera houses of Europe, and it marks Rossini's artistic turn from opera buffa toward serious music drama.