Rossini was taking something of a risk when he chose to write an opera about Armida, based on Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata, a story of the Crusades. Armida had been one of the most popular subjects for Baroque opera, inspiring such composers as Gluck, Monteverdi, Handel, Haydn, and Jommelli, but the subject's popularity had declined during the Classical period, and was rarely touched upon in the Romantic era.

The opera revolves around the character of Armida, and the men who surround her are musically and dramatically fairly interchangeable. For one thing, the individual Crusaders are all tenors. Armida is the only female role in the opera and is given a wide range of musical and dramatic expression, from deliberate seductiveness to tender love to desolation at being abandoned to fury. As the opera opens, Armida comes to the camp of the Crusaders to ask for help, claiming that her throne has been stolen from her by her uncle. Her true intent is to sow dissent among the Crusaders and to seduce Rinaldo, with whom she has fallen in love. Various rivalries lead to her fleeing with Rinaldo to an enchanted island. However, Rinaldo's comrades follow them there, and persuade him that his duty is to the Crusade, not to Armida. She pleads with him to remain, or at least to allow her to go with him, but he still goes with the other Crusaders. Crushed, Armida hesitates between love and the thirst for revenge, and the opera ends with her fiery choice of revenge.

Armida's music reflects all the ranges of her emotions, and demands a singing actress of the highest caliber. The music for the individual Crusaders is fairly nondescript, except in the last act trio, when Rinaldo is persuaded that he has neglected his duty. This music is incredibly intricate and exposed, and very effective when well-sung. However, the opera remains very much Armida's.

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