Il templario is an Italian-language opera by the German composer Otto Nicolai from a libretto written by Girolamo Maria Marini [it] based on Walter Scott's 1819 novel Ivanhoe.

[1] Marini was a part-time poet when not employed by the government tobacco monopoly, and is best remembered today for being called in to rewrite the third act of Donizetti's Adelia.

[2] Il templario received its premiere performances at the Teatro Regio, Turin in February 11, 1840, and continued on a successful run through Italy, rivaling Pacini's Saffo.

[3] Following its first Italian performances Laviska notes that: After its original highly successful run in Italy, Il templario was forgotten, as fashion moved on and Nicolai's early death reduced interest in his work outside Germany.

His father sold his autographs to Bote & Bock, who then filed and forgot them until 1937 when Joseph Goebbels was seeking pure-German operas to replace the removal of works by composers such as Meyerbeer from the German stage.

Goebels was attracted to the story of Ivanhoe but sought to have Nicolai's opera rewritten to remove the flattering elements around the Jewish heroine Rebecca.

[5] The rediscovered opera was again "lost" when the archives of both Bote & Bock in Berlin and Casa Ricordi in Milan were destroyed during World War II.

These included a revision originally deposited with the local censor in Naples but found in the Conservatorio di Musica under the title Teodosia, a German language edition, and also a French piano-vocal score, which allowed for the complete reconstruction in 2006.

[6] Following Wittmann's reconstruction, Il templario was then performed at the Chemnitz Opera in March 2008 conducted by Frank Beermann, with the American tenor Stanley Jackson as Ivanhoe.

The servants are in celebratory mood but Ravena is troubled – she senses that this unknown victor may be Cedrico’s own son, Vilfredo, to whom she pledged loyalty many years before.

Briano’s men have attempted to kidnap Rebecca but she has broken free and with her father Isacco of York, beg for asylum in the castle and are granted entry.

A room in a tower of The Knight Templars' Preceptory In a dream Rebecca recalls how she found the wounded Vilfredo on the banks of the Jordan river and nursed him back to health, all the while falling in love with him.

Briano enters and declares his love, saying he will renounce everything for her but she curtly rejects his offers, threatening to throw herself from the tower balcony if he dares to touch her.