(The Crusader in Egypt) is an opera in two acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi. It was first performed at La Fenice theatre, Venice on 7 March 1824. The part of Armando was sung by the famous castrato, Giovanni Battista Velluti; the opera was probably the last written to feature a castrato. It is the last of Meyerbeer's series of operas in Italian, and became the foundation of the composer's international success. Performance history After its successful Venetian premiere, Il Crociato was staged at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence (7 May 1824), Trieste (winter 1824–1825), Padua (summer 1825), and at His Majesty's Theatre in London (3 June 1825, the first of Meyerbeer's operas to be performed in England, also with Velluti in the cast). This encouraged Rossini, who was then managing the Théâtre-Italien, to arrange for its performance in Paris (25 September 1825), where the role of Armando was taken by the soprano Giuditta Pasta and Aladino by Nicolas Levasseur. For each of these productions Meyerbeer revised the work and composed new music for parts of it. Over the next twenty to thirty years the opera was performed in almost every major opera house in Europe, and even in Mexico City, Havana and Constantinople. The opera formed the basis for the composer's future great success. As remarked by the critic of the London magazine, The Harmonicon, in a review of the 1825 production in Trieste: Of all living composers, Meyerbeer is the one who most happily combines the easy, flowing and expressive melodies of Italy with the severer beauties, the grander accomplishments, of the German school. This formula of combining the strengths of both operatic schools, as well as of dramatic stage spectacle and flexible and imaginative use of the orchestra, whilst fully displayed in Il crociato in Egitto, was to produce maximum effect with Meyerbeer's series of Grand Operas, commencing with Robert le diable in 1831. While it has not been staged complete in the 20th century there have been concert performances in both London and New York City which were recorded on LP. A staged revival was held in Venice in 2007 featuring a natural male soprano Michael Maniaci. Significant innovations After Rossini left for Paris, composers then active in Italy began to take important steps away from Rossini's style in a series of operas which bridged the gap between Rossini and the