rescue opera

A type of French opera, the libretto of which is based on plots, often taken from true happenings (the words fait historique sometimes appear in the subtitle), in which the hero or heroine are saved after fearful trials and tribulations. The taste for such works arose during the French Revolution. The most familiar examples are Luigi Cherubini's Les Deux Journées and Beethoven's Fidelio, both with libretti by Bouilly. The latter work was based on a German translation of Léonore written for Gaveaux.