About the work
Dramma giocoso (farsa) in one act by Gaetano Donizetti to his own libretto, derived from Adolphe Adam's opera "Le Chalet" (text by Eugène Scribe and Mélesville) and, more distantly, from Goethe's Singspiel "Jery und Bätely". It premiered on 24 August 1836 at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples; a revised version followed in 1837.
Plot
A prank by the village youths leaves the young farmer Daniele believing he has received a love letter from the headstrong Swiss girl Betly, who initially rejects him. Disappointed, he enlists in the army, but when Sergeant Max — Betly's brother, long thought dead — arrives with his soldiers, the truth comes out: Betly admits her feelings and produces a marriage contract signed in secret.
Cultural significance
Originally conceived as a simple one-act farce for the popular Naples theatre scene, "Betly" initially failed to please audiences; only a newly composed aria later turned it into a lasting success. Betly's entrance aria, with its echoes of yodelling, remained its best-known number, though the work as a whole is rarely staged today.