For the most part, Italian operatic composers exhibited indifference if not hostility toward the new musical language of Richard Wagner, and the aethetics of the German Romantics. However, there were those composers, such as Catalani, who admired and emulated the German developments. Catalani's harmonies and textures exhibit an indebtedness to Wagnerian writing, and his dramatics eschew any verismo influences whatsoever. The opera's libretto was written by a group of composers, and was a reworking of the libretto to an earlier opera of Catalani, called Elda, a dramma fantastico. The original libretto was by Carlo D'Ormville, and he helped with the rewrite as well. The other authors included Angelo Zanardini, Giuseppe Depanis, Illica, Giacosa, and Catalani himself. The story is a highly romantic one, and taken from mythology. The setting is the Rhine River, into which both heroine and hero eventually cast themselves in despair. The third act contains some of the best music of the opera, and is the emotional high point as well. Some of the most effective theatrical scenes include a dance for the water spirits, and a funeral tableaux. The opera premiered at Turin's Teatro Reggio on February 16, 1890, and was moderately successful.

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