Arrangement of the last opera composed by Rossini, where the protagonist is the legendary hero of the Swiss independence, William Tell. According to the legend, Tell was an expert marksman with the crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of the Austrian dukes of the House of Habsburg positioned in Altdorf, in the canton of Uri. Tell?s defiance and tyrannicide encouraged the population to open rebellion and a pact against the foreign rulers with neighbouring Schwyz and Unterwalden, marking the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy.

Arrangement of the semiserie opera by La Gazza Ladra, composed by Rossini and first performance of The Thieving Magpie was on 31 May 1817, at La Scala, Milan.