19th century Aureliano in Palmira was Rossini's second commission from
La Scala. It opened the theatre's
Carnival season with the famed
castrato,
Giovanni Battista Velluti as Arsace. It was the only role that Rossini wrote for the castrato voice. Rossini had originally written the role of Aureliano for
Giovanni David, one of the most renowned tenors of the day. However, throat problems during rehearsals led David to withdraw from the production, and Luigi Mari took his place. The popular soprano,
Lorenza Correa, sang the role of Queen Zenobia. The orchestra at the premiere was conducted by
Alessandro Rolla, with the staging directed by
Alessandro Sanquirico. The opera's opening night proved disappointing to the Milanese critics who praised the production but considered the music inferior to that of Rossini's
Tancredi which had premiered in Venice earlier that year. There was also criticism of the three principal singers. Nevertheless, it had a run of 14 performances at La Scala that season and was performed sporadically in various Italian theatres (including the
Teatro di San Carlo in Naples) between 1814 and 1831. It was also performed in London in 1826, again with Velluti as Arsace. The opera then fell more or less into obscurity.
20th century and beyond Its first modern performance was in September 1980 at the in
Genoa conducted by
Giacomo Zani, with Paolo Barbacini as Aureliano, Helga Müller-Molinari as Arsace, and
Luciana Serra as Zenobia. There was another major revival in 1996 at the
Rossini in Wildbad Festival conducted by Francesco Corti, with Donald George as Aureliano,
Angelo Manzotti as Arsace, and Tatiana Korovina as Zenobia. It was performed again in 2011 in
Martina Franca and was given a new production at the
Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in August 2014. The Pesaro production, conducted by
Will Crutchfield and directed by
Mario Martone, was the first performance of the
critical edition of the opera, which Crutchfield prepared. ==Roles==