Ivanhoé Ivanhoé Ivanhoé is an 1826 pastiche opera in three acts with music by Gioachino Rossini to a French-language libretto by Émile Deschamps and Gabriel-Gustave de Wailly, after Walter Scott's novel of the same name. The music was adapted, with the composer's permission, by the music-publisher Antonio Pacini from Rossini's operas, namely "Semiramide", "La Cenerentola", "La gazza ladra", and "Tancredi" in order to introduce his music to Paris. An examination of the score shows that Pacini also used music from "Bianca e Faliero", "Armida", "Maometto II", "Aureliano in Palmira", "Sigismondo", "Torvaldo e Dorliska", "Mosè in Egitto" and an amount of newly
La forza del destino (1867). Following these productions, Verdi made further, more extensive revisions to the opera with additions to the libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. This version, which premiered at La Scala, Milan, on 27 February 1869, has become the standard performance version. The most important changes were a new overture (replacing a brief prelude); the addition of a final scene to Act 3, following the duel between Carlo and Alvaro; and a new ending, in which Alvaro remains alive, instead of throwing himself off a cliff to his death. The opera in this version is frequently performed in the world's opera houses today.