About the work
"Il giovedì grasso" is a one-act farsa that Donizetti set to a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, freely adapted from Molière's "Monsieur de Pourceaugnac" and from works by Delestre-Poirson and Scribe. It premiered on 26 February 1829 at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples, with the celebrated singers Giovanni Battista Rubini and Luigi Lablache.
Plot
The lovers Nina and Teodoro face separation when Nina's father wants to marry her to the supposedly simple-minded countryman Ernesto. Their friend Sigismondo hatches a carnival-season prank to scare Ernesto off — but Ernesto sees through the scheme, turns it to his advantage, and in the end graciously gives his blessing to Nina and Teodoro's marriage.
Cultural significance
Rather than through-composed recitative, the work uses spoken dialogue and casts its comic role in Neapolitan dialect, which limited its circulation outside Naples. After a successful premiere the farsa fell into long neglect; its first modern revival did not come until 1959.