About the work
Virginia is a tragedia lirica in three acts by Saverio Mercadante to a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on Vittorio Alfieri's tragedy of the same name and ultimately on the legend recorded by Livy. Completed as early as 1850, the work was banned by Bourbon censors for its anti-tyrannical subject and did not reach the stage until 7 April 1866, at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, after the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Plot
The Roman patrician Appius desires the commoner Virginia, who is betrothed to Icilius. A false accusation engineered by Appius leads to Icilius's murder, and a tribunal declares Virginia a slave. To escape Appius's grasp, Virginia kills herself — her death sparks a popular uprising against the tyrant.
Cultural significance
Mercadante refused to make the changes the censors demanded, leaving the opera unperformed for sixteen years rather than soften it. As the last of his stage works to be performed, Virginia stands as evidence of his artistic resistance to political censorship.