About the work
Opera buffa by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Bartolomeo Merelli, based on August von Kotzebue's comedy 'Die deutschen Kleinstädter'. This early work by the still-unknown composer was premiered during the carnival season at the Teatro Vecchio in Mantua; sources give either winter 1819 or the 1820/21 season, and no exact date survives.
Plot
Don Petronio wants to marry his daughter Sabina to the village schoolmaster Trifoglio, but she loves the young Claudio. When Sabina passes off his portrait as an image of the king, the villagers start treating Claudio like a ruler. Once the mix-up is cleared up and Trifoglio withdraws on learning there is no dowry, Claudio reveals himself as a wealthy landowner who marries Sabina without one.
Cultural significance
According to librettist Merelli, the premiere failed because of the 'caprices and ill will' of several singers, especially the eighteen-year-old prima donna Fanny Eckerlin, even though he judged the score to contain 'many successful numbers'. After a single further performance in Genoa in 1822, the work was forgotten for roughly two centuries until its rediscovery in Bergamo in 2020.