Roberto Devereux

Roberto Devereux (in full Roberto Devereux, ossia Il conte di Essex, Italian: [roˈbɛrto deveˈrø osˈsiːa il ˈkonte di ˈɛsseks]; "Robert Devereux, or the Earl of Essex") is an 1837 tragedia lirica (tragic opera) in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The opera is loosely based on the life of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, an influential member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto based on François Ancelot's French tragedy Elisabeth d'Angleterre (Paris, 1832), with some of the text taken from Felice Romani's libretto for Saverio Mercadante's opera Il conte d'Essex (Milan, 1833), also based on Ancelot's play. Cammarano's libretto also incorporated elements from the 1787 French play Histoire secrète des amours d'Elisabeth et du comte d'Essex (1787) by Jacques Lescène des Maisons. Devereux was the subject of at least two earlier French plays, both titled Le Comte d'Essex: one in 1638 by Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède, and one in 1678 by Thomas Corneille.

It is one of a number of operas by Donizetti which deal with the Tudor period of English history and which include Anna Bolena (about Anne Boleyn), Maria Stuarda (about Mary, Queen of Scots) and Il castello di Kenilworth. The lead female characters – Anne Boleyn, Mary Stuart and Elizabeth herself – have been referred to as the "Three Donizetti Queens." They became popular in the 1970s, when the American soprano Beverly Sills promoted them as a series at New York City Opera.

It has been said that, "although the plot plays fast and loose with history, the opera carries its own brand of dramatic conviction".