Di tanti palpiti (frm Tancredi)

Tancredi is a melodramma eroico (opera seria or heroic opera) in two acts by the Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi, based on Voltaire's Tancrède (1759). The opera was premiered at the Teatro la Fenice at Venice in 1813. The overture is a popular example of Rossini’s characteristic style, and is a regular part of the concert and recording repertoire. Tancredi is considered by Stendhal, Rossini's earliest biographer, to be his greatest masterpiece. Though Rossini first composed his opera with a happy ending but successively he had the poet Luigi Lechi rework the libretto to emulate the original tragic ending by Voltaire. Thus, in the Ferrara ending, Tancredi wins the battle but is mortally wounded. Only then does he learn that Amenaide never betrayed him, and Agirio marries the lovers in time for Tancredi to die in his wife's arms. In the Venice ending (1816), the dying Solamir professes Amenaide's innocence, and Tancredi returns home in triumph. The opera is usually performed in this version today .