About the work
Dramma giocoso in two acts by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà after Carlo Goldoni's comedy of the same title (1750), first performed on 13 January 1795 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Salieri had begun setting the story as early as 1779, under the title 'L'isola capricciosa', for Venice; the project stalled after the death of the impresario there, and he completed a new setting only in 1792, once Mazzolà had joined the Viennese court.
Plot
On an island, European women who fled male oppression have founded a world ruled by women: they command and wage war, while the men keep house and fuss over fashion. When a general brings two European prisoners, a count and a marchioness, to the island, jealousy, an escape plot and several courtships throw the community into confusion. In the end the marchioness returns to Europe, while the count stays on the island and marries the colonel rather than the general.
Cultural significance
The 'world turned upside down' premise goes back to Goldoni's 1750 libretto, originally set by Baldassare Galuppi; Salieri's version borrows only the title and basic idea, not the detailed plot. After its premiere the opera fell largely into obscurity, receiving its first modern revival only in 2009 in Legnago, followed by its first German-language staging in 2010 in Neuburg an der Donau.