''Maometto'' is an opera by Peter von Winter to a libretto by

Felice Romani Giuseppe Felice Romani (31 January 178828 January 1865) was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist betw ...

premièred in 1817 at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. Romani's libretto is unusual in that it depicts

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, the founder of Islam, following the 1736 play ''Mahomet'' by

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

, and not

Mehmed the Conqueror Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

, the Turkish sultan of the fifteenth century known from Rossini's '' Maometto II''.

Recording

*''Maometto'' Maometto, Sebastian Na (tenor); Zopiro sheriff of Mecca Antonio de Gobbi (bass); Omar Maometto's Lieutenant, Luca Salsi (baritone); Fanor senator of Mecca Cesare Ruta (tenor), Seide Maometto's slave Gloria Montanari (mezzo), Palmira (another slave) Maria Luigia Borsi (soprano). Czech Philharmonic Choir. Czech Chamber Soloists, Brno conducted Gabriele Bellini Marco Polo.

Recording

References

See also