Elisa e Claudio

Elisa e Claudio, ossia L'amore protetto dall'amicizia (Elisa and Claudio, or Love Protected by Friendship) is a two-act melodramma semiseria by the 19th Century Italian composer Saverio Mercadante from a libretto by Luigi Romanelli based on the play, Rosella by Filipo Casari. It received its premiere performance at La Scala in Milan on 30 October 1821.

Mercadante began to compose operas in 1819, and Elisa was his seventh. It "was his first great success, and his only comedy to maintain its place alongide the serious works of his later years.

Initially successful, the opera was given at His Majesty's Theatre in London in April 1823, followed a month later at the then-named Théâtre royal Italien in Paris on 22 November. The US premiere occurred on 18 October 1832 in New York City.

Elisa is the only Mercadante comic opera to have been presented in recent years. In fact, very few revivals of any of the composer's operas have taken place in the 20th century, but those of Elisa e Claudio include a 1971 presentation at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and 1973 performances at the occasional "Festival Mercadantiano" in the composer's home town, Altamura in Southern Italy, in which Salvatore Fisichella sang the role of Claudio. The Wexford Festival in Ireland has been instrumental in featuring Mercadante's work, and Elisa was given in October 1988.

Scene 1: Inside Count Arnoldo's villa

The Marquis Tricotazio and his daughter Silvia have arrived to visit the Count a day earlier than expected. The Marquis is looking forward to Silvia's marriage with the Count's son Claudio, but Silvia is in love with Celso, a former fellow-student of Claudio who has joined the Marquis's retinue. The Count suspects that Claudio wishes to marry someone else, and has confined him to his room for a year, but Claudio, to the Count's surprise, agrees to the marriage. This is a ruse which allows him to move more freely and, in particular, to visit Elisa, whom he has secretly married. However, the Count's servant, Luca, has discovered the existence of Elisa and the two children that she has borne to Claudio.

...
Wikipedia