About the work
Opéra comique in one act by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Gustave Vaëz, composed in Paris in 1841 but not premiered until 7 May 1860 — twelve years after the composer's death — at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
Plot
Innkeeper Rita bullies her second husband Beppe, who secretly hopes that her first husband Gasparo, long presumed dead, might still be alive. When Gasparo does turn up, the two men gamble over who gets to keep her, the loser being stuck with Rita. After a swapped hand of cards and a faked paralysis, Gasparo manages to slip away, leaving Beppe with Rita.
Cultural significance
According to an oft-told anecdote, Donizetti wrote the brief score within days after impulsively asking Vaëz for a text. Because the work remained unpublished during his lifetime, it only reached the stage posthumously; as a chamber-scaled farce with neatly balanced parts for three soloists, "Rita" is counted among the composer's occasionally rediscovered small masterpieces today.