Friedrich Schiller wrote several dramas for the theatre, but with time they started to disappear from the stage, firstly because the Romantic taste was fading, secondly because of the great number of characters needed, a practical reason that caused a quite diffused avoidance of Schiller’s drama. One of the way for Schillerian drama to survive, was through its ‘translation’ into melodrama, into opera librettos.
In the essay, two famous melodrama adaptations from Schiller’s theatre are analysed: "Guillaume Tell" by Gioacchino Rossini (1829) and "Luisa Miller" by Giuseppe Verdi (1849). The study concerns the processes of thematic reorganization, of formal reconfiguration, and of ideological elaboration which took place in order to meet the expectations of historically and socially different audiences. Si analizzano due celebri adattamenti per il melodramma della drammaturgia schilleriana: "Guillaume Tell" di Gioacchino Rossini (1829) e "Luisa Miller" di Giuseppe Verdi (1849). Si rilevano i procedimenti di ristrutturazione tematica, di riconfigurazione formale, di rielaborazione ideologica in ragione delle aspettative di pubblici storicamente e socialmente differenti.
