Lo spirito di contradizione

Lo spirito di contradizione (The Spirit of Contradiction) is an opera buffa in three acts by Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi.

Guglielmi contributed a large part of the music to Pasquale Anfossi's 1763 opera Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna, which had a Neapolitan libretto by Antonio Palomba. Much of this work was reused by Guglielmi for Lo spirito di contradizione, with the text revised for the Venetian audience by Gaetano Martinelli.

Performance history

edit

It was first performed at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice during carnival 1766.

Roles

edit
Cast Voice type Premiere, carnival, 1766
(Conductor:Unknown)
Don Cesarino tenor
Lisetta soprano
Cecchina soprano
Countess Flaminia mezzo-soprano
Orazio Capocchio, in love with Lisetta tenor
Agabito, a notary in love with Cecchina tenor
Nanetta soprano
Asdrubale, the governor, Nanetta's brother tenor

Synopsis

edit

Don Cesarino is scheming to marry three women (Lisetta, Cecchina and the Countess Flaminia) for their dowries and then disappear, but other men also interested in the women, thwart his plan.

References

edit
  • Hunter, Mary (1992), 'Spirito di contradizione, Lo' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7