List of operas set in the Crusades

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.

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.

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.

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[5] as well as many paintings.

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.

Voltaire's Zaïre (The Tragedy of Zara) was given its first public performance on 13 August 1732 by the Comédie française at the Théâtre de la rue des Fossés Saint-Germain.

The historical characters alluded to, members of the Lusignan and Châtillon families, were related to events of the Crusades but not alive at the time of Louis IX.

[9] The characters' names in the original French are: The play's melodramatic plot and a setting that appealed to the orientalism in vogue in late-18th- and early-19th-century Europe made it popular with opera composers.

[10] One of the earliest operatic adaptations was Peter Winter's Zaire which premiered in 1805 at The King's Theatre in London with the famous Italian contralto, Giuseppina Grassini, in the title role.

[11] Bellini's 1829 Zaira, also based on the play, was expressly written for the inauguration of the Teatro Regio di Parma but was a failure on the opening night and has been rarely performed since then.

[12] Johann Andreas Schachtner's libretto for Mozart's unfinished opera Zaïde, was based largely on a 1778 singspiel, The Seraglio, or The Unexpected Reunion of Father, Daughter and Son in Slavery.

[13] The earliest work on this list, Rinaldo innamorato by Francesca Caccini, dates from 1623 when opera was still in its infancy and performed only in private palaces or court theatres.

Several works in those genres were also based on Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata, including: The operas below are listed in chronological order by the date of their first performance.