Rosmonda was one of the last operas composed by Donizetti in collaboration with the librettist Felice Romani. They had just finished a stormy production for the impresario Alessandro Lanari at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence. Donizetti was under contract with Lanari to produce another opera for the carnival season of 1834. But because of the difficulties which arose during the production of Parisini, Donizetti and Lanari had difficulty coming to terms, and only eventually agreed to an opera for the Lenten season. In the meantime, he and Felice Romani were hard at work on Lucrezia Borgia, which premiered on December 26, 1833 at the Teatro La Scala in Naples. Donizetti tried to get Romani to agree to write a new libretto for their opera for the Lenten season in Florence, but Romani demurred. He could not, he said, complete two libretti in so short a space of time. He agreed instead to revise an old libretto of his, called Rosmonda d'Inghilterra, which he had written for the composer Carlo Coccia. Coccia had set this libretto in 1829, but his opera had failed. The libretto, however, was noticed by the critics, who lauded the many musico-dramatic possibilities which it offered the composer. Romani revised his libretto and delivered it to Donizetti by November 1833, and Donizetti composed Rosmonda while Lucrezia Borgia was still in rehearsal.

Several other composers also attempted to set this Romani text, including Luigi Majocchi in 1831, Antonio Belisario in 1835, and Otto Nicolai in 1839. None of these settings, including that of Donizetti, had long lives on the operatic stage. Romani's libretto was based on a French play by Emile Boisnormand de Bonnechose. It tells of the legend of Fair Rosamond, the ill-fated mistress of King Henry II of England. The story has it that Eleanor of Acquitaine was so jealous that she murdered her rival by cornering her and forcing her to choose between being stabbed to death and drinking a draught of poison. Donizetti's opera premiered at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on February 27, 1834, to mild acclaim. The critics loved the overture and the first act finale, but disliked Donizetti's handling of the form. They thought that the opera contained too many duets and cavatinas, and not enough ensembles. Part of the problem was Donizetti's handling of the casting. In Coccia's opera, the part of Arturo is much more prominent. It is a travesti role, and sung by a woman. Coccia used this voice to fill out ensemble textures, and Arturo appears in several duets, trios and larger ensembles. Donizetti wanted to eliminate this character altogether. As a result, the numbers which were ensembles in Coccia's opera are either duets or solo arias in Donizetti's score.

Dramatically, Donizetti's score remains very powerful. It builds slowly until the scene of confrontation between Rosmonda and Leonora in the final act. This is set as a duet, which culminates in the murder of Rosmonda. Later, when Donizetti revised the opera for an 1837 production, he added a final aria for Leonora, which extends the emotional climax, and gives the audience psychological insight into this anti-heroine. She has triumphed over her rival, and still reigns. She is to be feared by Henry II, rather than scorned. But there is a certain pathos to her triumph, which comes through eloquently in her final aria. The creator of the title role for Donizetti was Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani. For her, Donizetti composed the aria "Perche non ho del vento?"

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