Lo speziale

Lo speziale
Opera by Joseph Haydn
Portrait of the composer by Thomas Hardy, in 1791
Description	opera buffa
Translation	The Apothecary
Librettist	Carlo Goldoni
Language	Italian
Premiere	1768 (1768) Eszterháza

Lo speziale (The Apothecary), Hob. 28/3, is a three-act opera buffa by Joseph Haydn, with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni.

A love triangle between the poor apprentice Mengone, the rich and assured dandy Volpino, and the local apothecary's ward, Grilletta, Lo speziale is a comedy of great warmth and ebullience.

Lo speziale prefigures Mozart. It opens with an aria complaining about an apprentice apothecary's job, much like Leporello's opening aria in Don Giovanni. The trouser role of Volpino reminds one of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and the young lovers' use of disguises will call Cosi fan tutte to mind.

The opera is scored for two flutes, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, strings, continuo.

It was composed and first performed to popular and critical acclaim at Eszterháza in the autumn of 1768.

An old man, Sempronio, is determined to marry a young woman, Grilletta, more for her money than for any other reason. Sempronio however has two rivals: his apprentice, Mengone, who has taken the job only to be near Grilletta, and Volpino, a young man about town.

Mengone has entered the service of the apothecary Sempronio, though he does not possess the slightest knowledge of chemistry. His love for Sempronio's ward Grilletta is the reason, and in the first scene he mixes drugs while making melancholy reflections on his lot, which has led him to a master who buries himself in his newspapers instead of attending to his business, and allowing his apprentices get on as best they may.

Sempronio relates that the plague is raging in Russia. The news that an old cousin of his has married his young ward is more interesting to him than all his drugs and pills; he intends to act likewise with Grilletta. This young lady has three suitors, one of whom, a rich young coxcomb, enters to order a drug. His real intention is to see Grilletta. He notices that Mengone loves her too, so he sends him out, in order to have Grilletta to himself. But she only mocks him, and on Mengone's return Volpino is forced to retire. Alone with Mengone, Grilletta encourages her timid lover, whom she likes, but just when he is about to take her hand Sempronio returns, furious to see them so intimate. He sends Mengone away to work and the young girl to her account books, while he buries himself once more in the papers.