Internationally, the opera was first performed in Liège on 24 March 1851, Brussels on 27 September 1851, New Orleans in 1851, and Frankfurt (in German) on 22 April 1852. In New York it was presented by the New Orleans company in French on 21 June 1852 at Niblo's Garden. It was not well received by the critic of the Spirit of the Times (26 June 1852), who wrote: "Queen Elizabeth, Falstaff, and Shakespeare are introduced under the most ridiculous circumstances, and in absurd relations to each other. We could forgive our Gallic friends for scandalizing Queen Bess and rendering fat Jack ridiculous, but to profane the memory of the sweet Swan of Avon by introducing his name into such balderdash is at once an insult to all who reverence him and an evidence that the French are wholly ignorant of his glorious works. Poor fellows!"Quoted in Lawrence 1995, p. 317–318. The opera was first presented in English in New York on 15 October 1877 in a translation by M. A. Cooney.
