About the work
L'isola disabitata is an azione teatrale in two acts, the only libretto by Pietro Metastasio that Haydn set to music; Giuseppe Bonno had already composed the text in 1754. The premiere took place on 6 December 1779 at the opera house of Eszterháza.
Plot
Abandoned by her unfaithful lover Gernando, Costanza lives with her sister Silvia on a deserted island and has carved her despair into a rock. When Gernando returns with his friend Enrico and finds the inscription, he believes Costanza dead – until the couple is reunited and Enrico courts Silvia.
Cultural significance
The work stands out for its continuous orchestrally accompanied recitative in place of spoken dialogue; the complete score remained unpublished until 1976.