Rescue opera

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A rescue opera was a popular subject of opera in the nineteenth century. Generally, rescue operas dealt with the rescue of a main character from some sort of danger. The genre became popular in France at around the time of the French Revolution, and many such operas dealt with the rescue of a political prisoner.

The most famous example of a rescue opera is Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio. Examples also exist by Luigi Cherubini (Les deux journées), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Ferdinando Paer and Bedřich Smetana.

[edit] References

• James Anderson, The Complete Dictionary of Opera and Operetta.