- Gioachino Rossini. Melodramma giocoso in two acts. 1812.
- Libretto by Luigi Romanelli.
- First performance at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 26th September 1812.
Count Asdrubale, a rich young bachelor, is giving a party, attended by a number of pretentious
fortune-hunters. He pretends to have lost all his money, proving thus the loyalty of the Marchesina
Clarice, who poses as her own brother, to test the strength of the Count's affection in her turn.
The opera includes a parody of critics in the affected Pacuvio's pretentious Ombretta sdegnosa
del Missipipi (Disdainful shadow of the Missipipi), with its ridiculous repetitions of the last
syllables and the poet Giocondo's address to Clarice Quell'alme pupille (Those gentle eyes).
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