Gioachino Rossini's Otello, ossia Il moro di Venezia was premiered at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples on December 4, 1816. The year before, Rossini had come to Naples, the last Italian stronghold to be overtaken by his operatic style, at the invitation of Neapolitan impresario Domenico Barbaia. Rossini composed his opera seria Otello between his Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816) and La Cenerentola (1817).

Francesco Maria Berio based his libretto on the French translation of Shakespeare's Othello by J.F. Ducis. There was much criticism from contemporaries the likes of George Gordon, Lord Byron, and Stendhal about the extent to which Shakespeare's tragedy had been altered in Berio's libretto.

Rossini offered plenty of opportunity for displays of instrumental and vocal virtuosity in composing the music for Otello. After the rousing and tuneful overture, Otello's Act I aria "Amor, dicada il nembo" is laden with virtuosic flourishes and punctuated by martial interjections from the chorus of the people. Iago's and Roderigo's Act I duet "No, non temer" is a clear predecessor (indeed, likely a model for) duets in later Italian and French opera, alternating solo statements of the same music from both characters before bringing them together in contrasting music. In the sections of recitative, the orchestra amplifies the drama of the plot and the emotions of the characters, as in Desdemona's recitative with Emilia, in which soft tremolo strings accompany Desdemona's anxiety that Otello may suspect her love for him ("Ah! ch'io pavento"). The finale of Act I crescendos from the trio of Roderigo, Desdemona, and Elmiro with Otello's entrance ("L'infida, ahimè che miro?"). The chorus functions more actively as an observant commentator on the action and, together with the soloists, brings the act to an end in an allegro major mode chorus, marked by vivid trumpet fanfares and rapid string writing. Roderigo's Act II aria "Ah! come mai non senti" unfolds in a phrase structure, at the basis of which are balanced two-measure units. The shift from the melancholy major mode of the A-section to the agitated minor mode (reinforced by tremolo strings) of the B-section ("Ma se constante sei") mirrors Roderigo's thoughts of vengeance. In the Act II duet between Otello and Iago ("Non m'inganno; al mio rivale") Rossini juxtaposes the contradictory utterances of the two characters in such a way that emphasizes Iago's betrayal of Otello, before bringing them ironically to sing the same music together ("Il cor mi si divide"/"Propizio il ciel m'arride"). The Act III song of the off-stage gondolier ("Nessun maggior dolor") is a dramatic minor mode model of the expressive powers of Italian bel canto style. Desdemona's willow song in Act III ("Assisa a' piè d'un salice"), the accompaniment for which features a gently undulating harp part, is diagetic music of great lyrical beauty and expressiveness. Its strophic formal arrangement (varied only by vocal ornamentation in the second, third, and, later, fourth strophes) signifies the profound stasis of Desdemona's sorrow.

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