About the work
Ricciardo e Zoraide is a dramma in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Francesco Berio di Salsa, based on cantos XIV and XV of Niccolò Forteguerri's verse epic "Il Ricciardetto". It premiered on 3 December 1818 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with Isabella Colbran as Zoraide and Andrea Nozzari as Agorante.
Plot
Set at the time of the Crusades, the Christian knight Ricciardo loves Zoraide, daughter of the deposed prince Ircano. King Agorante has abducted Zoraide and threatens her with execution. Disguised, Ricciardo makes his way into the palace, while Ircano appears as a mysterious knight in black armour. After intrigue and a military intervention by the crusaders, the lovers triumph over Agorante and are reunited.
Cultural significance
The opera remained in the repertoire until 1846 before falling into obscurity; it was rediscovered only in 1990 at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. Autograph scores survive in Naples, Pesaro and Brussels, evidence of how widely the work once circulated.