About the work
Musical comedy in two acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to a libretto by Enrico Golisciani, based on Molière’s comedy "L’Amour médecin" (1665). Richard Batka’s German version, titled "Der Liebhaber als Arzt", premiered at the Dresden Hofoper on 4 December 1913; the Italian premiere followed only in 1929, in Turin.
Plot
The overprotective Arnolfo keeps his daughter Lucinda shut away from the world; when lovesickness makes her ill, he summons a string of doctors who all fail to help her. Her maid Lisetta sends the physicians away and instead smuggles in Lucinda’s secret admirer Clitandro, disguised as a doctor. He prescribes a mock wedding as "treatment" – which turns into a real marriage and cures Lucinda, leaving Arnolfo outwitted.
Cultural significance
As a chamber-scaled Molière adaptation, the opera is stylistically close to "Il segreto di Susanna" and, like that work, became a fixture of the international Wolf-Ferrari repertoire.