About the work
Lyric drama in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, originally written for Giacomo Puccini. It is based on the Induction to Shakespeare’s "The Taming of the Shrew", built around the drunken vagrant Christopher Sly, which Forzano expanded into a full tragedy. The opera premiered on 29 December 1927 at La Scala, Milan, with Aureliano Pertile and Mercedes Llopart in the leading roles.
Plot
The penniless poet Sly is found drunk in a tavern; the Earl of Westmoreland has him carried off to his castle as a prank and convinced that his former life was only a dream. When the hoax is exposed in public, Sly is humiliated and thrown into a cellar. Dolly, Westmoreland’s mistress, who took part in the prank, has meanwhile fallen genuinely in love with him – but by the time she comes to confess her love, Sly has already slashed his wrists with a broken bottle and is dying.
Cultural significance
Unlike his comic Goldoni operas, "Sly" belongs to the tradition of late verismo and is considered one of the last significant works in that style, which faded out during the 1920s.