| Pietra del paragone, La (The Touchstone) |
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). |