About the work
La contadina astuta, also known as Livietta e Tracollo, is a comic opera intermezzo in two parts by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, to a libretto by Tommaso Mariani. It premiered on 25 October 1734 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples, performed between the acts of Pergolesi's opera seria Adriano in Siria, with no connection to its plot.
Plot
The peasant girl Livietta disguises herself as a man to catch the thief Tracollo, who had earlier robbed her brother, and outwits him in the first part. In the second part Tracollo poses as an astrologer and tries to unsettle Livietta psychologically, but is eventually won over by her genuine feelings, and the couple becomes engaged.
Cultural significance
The intermezzo outshone the opera it accompanied, circulated under numerous further titles such as Il Tracollo and Il ladro convertito per amore, and remained among the most performed intermezzi of its time for over two decades. Ricordi's national edition of Pergolesi's works still lists it, under the double title La contadina astuta / Livietta e Tracollo, as a forthcoming volume.