About the work
Farsa in one act by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Bartolomeo Merelli, based on August von Kotzebue's play 'Der Graf von Burgund' – the same source Donizetti had set to entirely different music only a month earlier in his opera 'Enrico di Borgogna'. The Venetian impresario Paolo Zancla had commissioned the work at short notice after the success of 'Enrico di Borgogna'.
Plot
Enrico loves Elisa, but the tyrannical ruler Guido opposes their union. After several complications it emerges that Enrico is in fact the rightful heir to the throne, hidden since childhood; he and Elisa are united while Guido is captured and exiled.
Cultural significance
The premiere in December 1818 at the Teatro San Luca in Venice remained the work's only performance; a contemporary review found the vocal writing unremarkable, attributing this to the time pressure under which it was composed. The complete score is considered lost since Zancla took it to Sicily with him – only eight bars survive, recorded by RAI in 2012, along with an overture manuscript found at the Bologna Conservatory in 1978.