Here's Schubert's only other readily available opera--again, unperformed in his lifetime. That must've been frustrating.
So it's Medieval Times, and Froila is the deposed king of León; exactly where he's living now is not clear. His son Alfonso is sick of being stuck wherever he's stuck. Meanwhile, the usurper, Mauregato, has a daughter Estrella. His ambitious general Adolfo wants to marry her. Mauregato isn't keen on this, but he can't deny him, having offered him anything he wants; he comes up with the excuse that the only one who can marry Estrella is one who has this special necklace. Adolfo is unhappy about this and decides to incite a rebellion. Alfonso and Estrella meet and fall in love. Adolfo menaces her but is stopped and thrown in jail. Mauregato feels bad about having usurped the throne and gives it up to Froila, who forgives him.
The libretto is kind of a mess, but as with Fierrabras, the music is good enough to redeem it--and unlike Fierrabras, there's no spoken dialogue here, which is for the best, I feel. This production is good: it features Thomas Hampson as Froila, and also Nikolaus Harnoncourt looking entertainingly deranged as he conducts.
Yeah, okay, sometimes there's just not that much to say. If you like pre-Wagnerian German romantic music, you're gonna like this. That is all I can tell you.
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