When Rossini's Opera Matilde di Shabran was premiered in Rome in 1821, it was billed as a 'melodrama giocoso', somewhere between an Opera Buffa and an Opera Seria in character.In 1822 it was given in Naples and after that it was regularly performed until 1850. It's first revival was in Genua in 1974 and thereafter in 1996 in Pesaro, where it was performed again in 2004 with Juan Diego Florez - the most famous lyric Rossini tenor of our days - singing Corradino. Matiilde di Shabran is one of the many Rossini overtures is in its typical and characteristic style.