Tancredi

Opera by Rossini (libretto by Giacomo Rossi, based on Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata and Voltaire's tragedy Tancrède). Produced at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, on 6 February 1813, it was Rossini's first serious opera. In the story, Amenaide, daughter of Argirio, refuses to marry her family's enemy, Orbazzano; she is later accused of aiding the Saracens when her letter to her lover Tancredi is found. He champions her, kills Orbazzano, and leads the Syracusans against the Saracens.