Giovanni Paisiello enjoyed a considerable international reputation during much of his career, with 80 or more operas that presented a challenge to those of Mozart in Vienna. La finta amante was composed during Paisiello’s time at the Russian court of Catherine II and it soon became a triumph throughout Europe for its elegant and luminous music. With just three characters, captured forcefully by Paisiello’s innate sense of theatre, the comedy revolves around Camilletta who, alongside her boyfriend Gelino, deceives the older but wealthy Don Girone in games that inevitably lead to dangerous consequences.