About the work
Lo frate ’nnamorato is a three-act commedia per musica by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, set to a Neapolitan libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico. It was the 22-year-old composer's first comic opera, premiered on 27 September 1732 at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples to an enthusiastic reception.
Plot
The wealthy Marcaniello has raised the foundling Ascanio, who is now loved by several young women at once, including Marcaniello's own nieces. A duel between Ascanio and his rival Carlo reveals that Ascanio is in fact their brother, stolen as a child. The revealed kinship resolves the romantic entanglements, and Ascanio marries Marcaniello's daughter instead.
Cultural significance
An earthquake interrupted the opera's successful first run and closed Naples's theatres until autumn 1733; the work returned in 1734 in a version revised by Pergolesi and was still being staged in 1748. In 1920 Igor Stravinsky drew on melodies from the work, including the canzone "Pupilette, fiammette d'amore", for his ballet Pulcinella.