Othello

Abstract

Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Berio di Salsa after William Shakespeare's play 'Othello', or 'The Moor of Venice'. It was premiered in Naples, Teatro del Fondo on 4th December 1816.

The plot of the libretto differs greatly from Shakespeare's play in that it takes place wholly in Venice, not mainly on Cyprus, and the dramatic conflict develops in a different manner. The role of Iago is much less diabolical than Shakespeare's play or Verdi's 1887 opera Otello, which was also based on it.

The plot takes place at the end of the 15th century. Otello, an African in the service of Adria (Venice), returns victorious from a battle against the Turks. He secretly weds Desdemona, daughter of his enemy Elmiro Patrizio Veneto, already promised to Rodrigo, son of the Doge. Jago, another lover rejected by Desdemona and secret enemy of Otello, in order to be revenged for wrongs done to him, pretends to favor the love-suit of Rodrigo. He intercepts a letter by the latter, with which he leads Otello to believe his wife is unfaithful. This is the basis for the action which ends with Otello stabbing Desdemona to death and the death of Otello himself after discovering the deceit of Jago and the innocence of his wife.