About the work
La finta semplice is an opera buffa that twelve-year-old Mozart composed in Vienna in 1768, after Emperor Joseph II encouraged Leopold Mozart to have his son produce an opera. Marco Coltellini's libretto adapts a "dramma giocoso" by Carlo Goldoni.
Plot
Rosina feigns naivety to so thoroughly confuse the misogynistic brothers Cassandro and Polidoro that they consent to the marriage of their sister Giacinta to Captain Fracasso.
Cultural significance
Rival Viennese composers spread the rumour that a twelve-year-old could not possibly have written the music himself; the impresario Giuseppe Affligio then cancelled the planned Vienna premiere. The work was not staged until 1769, at the Salzburg court theatre – an early setback to Mozart's career plans.