Le siège de Corinthe

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Le siège de Corinthe (The Siege of Corinth) is an opera in three acts by Gioacchino Rossini to a French libretto by Luigi Balocchi and Alexandre Soumet, based on Maometto II by Cesare della Valle. First performance: Opéra, Paris, 1826. Also known in its italian version, L'assedio di Corinto

The event the opera commemorates is the siege and ultimate destruction of the town of Messolonghi in 1822 by Turkish troops during the Greek War of Independence, fought from 1821 to 1829 (the reference to Corinth being an example of allegory; in an interesting coincidence, the town of Corinth, Mississippi was besieged four decades later during the American Civil War).

This same incident - condemned throughout Western Europe for its cruelty - also inspired a prominent painting by Eugène Delacroix, and was mentioned in the writings of Lord Byron and Victor Hugo.

The opera's overture has remained widely popular, and has been performed by many contemporary classical orchestras, including the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields when conducted by Neville Marriner.

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