A lyric tragedy in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti, libretto by Salvatore Cammarano. Roberto Devereux was composed in the summer of 1837, the year, according to biographers, in which Donizetti seems to have suffered most, having lost his third son and his adored wife Virginia Vasselli. The opera made its debut at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples on October 28th in the same year and was a great success. The rehearsals of the original performance were postponed for a month due to censorship of the decapitation scene of the leading actor.

同母异父的三兄弟，16岁的保罗，15岁的马蒂，7岁的波蒂，分别被带到不同的地方养大。这个暑假，他们将要一起回到外婆诺拉家，参加母亲的葬礼。在外婆家的度假让他们第一次团聚在一起。在栗子粥与兔子、小秘密与鬼主意、冒险与捣蛋之间，三人间的手足之情日益浓厚。