Emilia di Liverpool was composed in the early part of Donizetti's career, at a time when he mainly composed smaller operas. His early operas were usually lighter works, often farces, and meant to be performed as a part of an evening's entertainment. Emilia di Liverpool is a two-act opera semiseria, with a sentimental plot and buffo characters that speak in Neapolitan dialect. Instead of recitative, there is spoken dialogue. The opera was composed for the Neapolitan stage, and premiered at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples on July 28, 1824. It was not a huge success, and the first run lasted only eight performances. The reviewers criticized the plot and libretto, which they thought feeble to the point of enervating. The libretto was based on one for an earlier opera by Vittorio Trento, and his was based on a play by Stefano Scatizzi called Emilia di Liverpaut. The critics thought Donizetti's music "pretty," but did not think the score strong enough to carry the evening, and so the opera was virtually panned.

Donizetti, however, liked the music, and the character of Emilia. Emilia di Liverpool was staged in Vienna in the same year, under the direction of his good friend and colleague Saverio Mercadante. For this version, he added some new music, and entrusted the dramatic interpretation to the director, with the hopes that the opera would be a greater success on the Viennese stage. He also made a third attempt at winning public approval for Emilia in 1828, in another Neapolitan production. This time, he revised the score completely. Giuseppe Checcherini reworked the libretto, four of the characters were changed, and seven numbers from the original score were cut. Donizetti added three new pieces to the opera, and also adapted an aria from Alahor in Granata, to serve as an aria-finale for Emilia. The opera was still not very well received, and Donizetti made no further attempts at revision. However, Emilia di Liverpool was revived later in the nineteenth century, and again in the twentieth, with Joan Sutherland in the title role.

© Rita Laurance, All Music Guide