• Gian Carlo Menotti. Opera buffa in one act. 1937.
• Libretto by the composer.
• First performance at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, on 1st April 1937.

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CHARACTERS

Amelia	soprano
Amelia’s husband	baritone
Amelia’s lover	tenor
Chief of Police	bass

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Amelia is preparing to go to the ball when her husband bursts in, angry at having found letters to her from her lover. He goes out and her lover enters, through the window. When her husband returns, tempers rise, and matters reach a climax when Amelia breaks a vase over her husband’s head. He is taken to hospital, her lover to prison, and Amelia to the ball, by the Chief of Police.

Menotti’s opera buffa, in traditional number form, was first performed in an English translation in Philadelphia.