Operas set against the background of the medieval Crusades can be found in the earliest examples of the art form and continue to be written into the 21st century. Many of the works listed here contain characters and plots based on real or legendary figures of the time such as Tancred, Prince of Galilee, Godfrey of Bouillon or Jaufre Rudel. The majority are set, at least in part, in the Holy Land and the surrounding region and deal with the conflicts between the Christians and Muslims. Others, such as Donizetti's Gabriella di Vergy, deal with the misadventures of knights returning from the Crusades. In the case of Gabriella di Vergy, Raoul de Coucy returns from the Third Crusade to find that his beloved Gabriella has married Lord Fayel. Following a duel, Fayel cuts out the heart of the unfortunate Raoul and presents it in an urn to Gabriella. The only comedy in the list, Rossini's Le comte Ory, recounts the attempts by Ory and his friends to seduce the Countess of Formoutiers and the women of her household while their men are away at the Crusades. Ory's ploy of dressing up as nuns to gain access to the women is foiled when the Crusaders return. Many of the libretti for the operas listed are based either directly or indirectly on Torquato Tasso's epic poem, La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered), or on Voltaire's tragic play, Zaïre.
Literary sources
Torquato Tasso's 1581 epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata and Voltaire's 1732 play, Zaïre were the sources for the majority of operas in this list and are described in more detail below. Other literary works which have served as the basis for operas on the Crusades include: 1735 mock epic poem, Il Ricciardetto; Dormont De Belloy's 1777 play, Gabrielle de Vergy; Jean-Antoine-Marie Monperlier's 1813 play Les Chevaliers de Malte (The Knights of Malta); August von Kotzebue's 1820 play Die Kreuzfahrer (The Crusaders); Sir Walter Scott's 1825 novel, The Talisman; and Tommaso Grossi's 1826 epic poem I Lombardi alla prima crociata (The Lombards in the First Crusade).
Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata
At least one hundred operas have been inspired by Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered). He began writing it while still a schoolboy and finished it in 1575 when he was thirty. The first complete editions were published in Parma and Ferrara in 1581. The main characters are a mixture of historical figures and ones invented by Tasso. Of the poem's main characters below, the invented Rinaldo and Armida, are the most frequent operatic characters. Their love story, primarily recounted in Canto XVI, is one of the most famous episodes in La Gerusalemme liberata and has alone served as the theme for over fifty operas as well as many paintings. Apart from Tancredi, the historically based characters tend to have relatively minor roles in operas based on the poem.
Goffredo is Godfrey of Bouillon, one of the military leaders of the First Crusade and later ruler of Jerusalem. (The original title of La Gerusalemme liberata was Il Goffredo.)
Pietro l'eremita is Peter the Hermit, the spiritual leader of The People's Crusade.
Tancredi is Tancred, Prince of Galilee, a Norman knight who became the ruler of Galilee and Antioch. He and Gaston IV of Béarn claimed to be the first Crusaders to enter Jerusalem when the city fell on 15 July 1099. In the poem, Tancredi falls in love with Clorinda and in turn is loved by both Clorinda and Erminia.
Rinaldo (fictional) is a valiant Christian knight. In the story, he is an ancestor of the House of Este, a compliment paid to Tasso's patron Alfonso II d'Este the Duke of Ferrara. Rinaldo shares the name (but not the identity) of an earlier Christian knight, Rinaldo di Montalbano who was a character in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. After escaping Armida's enchantment, he seeks penance on the Mount of Olives for having abandoned his Christian duty for love and participates in the final assault on Jerusalem.
Armida (fictional) is a beautiful highborn woman from Damascus and a sorceress. Her grandfather (Idraote), the ruler of the city was also a sorcerer. She uses her beauty and her magic to enchant the Christian knights and sow discord amongst them. After spiriting Rinaldo away to her magic isle, they fall in love. When Rinaldo comes to his senses and leaves her to return to battle, she becomes suicidal. Her character has elements of both Homer's Circe and Ariosto's Alcina.