About the work
Melodramma giocoso in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti, based on Giovanni Giraud's comedy of the same title from 1807. Its premiere at the Teatro Valle in Rome on 4 February 1824 was received with great enthusiasm and gave the 26-year-old Donizetti his first lasting success on stage.
Plot
The strict Marchese Giulio keeps his grown sons Enrico and Pippetto away from women and supposed vice. Unknown to him, Enrico has secretly married Gilda and already has a child, while his brother Pippetto is in love with the housekeeper Leonarda. When the secret comes out, the Marchese rages at first but relents as soon as he meets his grandson.
Cultural significance
The opera quickly travelled to many Italian cities and became Donizetti's first work staged abroad, with productions in Vienna, Dresden, Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro. In 1826 Donizetti reworked it for Naples under the title 'Don Gregorio'; the original then fell out of view after the 19th century and has been regularly revived only since the 1950s and 60s, today including at the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo.