Rossini’s last opera, even though he would live for another forty years. As the name suggests: it’s the famous story about the liberation of Switzerland, including the shooting of the apple. It premiered successfully in 1929 in Paris, and has since then been performed in both French and Italian versions, although usually not in its full length.
The overture is what is best known, so much that it is usually performed as a separate orchestral piece. When I was hearing the rest of this admittedly lengthy opera, I must say it’s a pity only the overture is well known. It deserves more attention.
As a curious side note: around 1835 a deck of cards was created with the four main characters as some of the court cards. It was created in Hungary and was popular in the Austrian-Hungarian empire. It still forms the basis of the decks that are used in that part of the world.