L'Opera

Curated by Paolo Pellegrini

Gioacchino Rossini - The Italian in Algiers
Characters and Performers
Isabella - Agnes Baltsa
Mustafà - Ferruccio Furlanetto
Elvira - Victoria Loukianetz
Zulma - Waltraud Winsauer
Haly - Georg Tichy
Lindoro - William Matteuzzi
Taddeo - Renato Girolami
Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Bruno Campanella, director

ACT ONE
The Bey of Algiers, Mustafà, bored by the docile and submissive fidelity of the women of his country, is ready to trample on laws and customs on a whim: to obtain the favors of an indomitable female of arduous conquest. And if it is true what he heard from Lindoro, an Italian sailor who fell into slavery three months earlier, the woman of his dreams of him can only be, in fact, Italian. He therefore does not hesitate to repudiate his wife Elvira, who uselessly and with painful resignation protests her unrequited love for her: Mustafà offers her in marriage to Lindoro, whose thoughts are nevertheless tenderly occupied by a love left in his homeland. . He then orders Haly, the leader of his privateers, to get him without fail a beautiful specimen of an Italian female within six days (and the stake will punish any failure). Lindoro, although not at all enthusiastic about the proposal to take charge of Elvira's beautiful face and beautiful heart, despite the conspicuous dowry that accompanies them, seems really forced to submit to the will of Mustafà.

The storm causes a ship to be wrecked on the beach of Algiers. Haly, with his pirates, preys on the goods and captures the passengers on board. Among them is the sad but splendid Isabella, in love with Lindoro who left Livorno in search of her together with Taddeo, who was in love with her cavalier servant of her. Haly immediately sees in her the happy solution of her problem: the beautiful Italian fully corresponds to the requirements expressed by Mustafà for the new favorite of her menagerie. In knowing the fate of her that awaits her, Isabella does not lose heart, but she juggles easily between Haly's alarming words and Taddeo's amorous bewilderment. To dominate events, she certainly does not lack the courage or the weapons of her most exquisite feminine seduction: first of all, she convinces Taddeo to pretend to be her uncle, to protect her. Meanwhile, Mustafà is offering Lindoro the possibility of returning to his homeland on a Venetian ship as long as he takes Elvira with him; Haly interrupts him, beaming at the good news it brings to his master. Mustafa, enthusiastic, gets caught up in a frenzy: he orders his wife's departure to be hastened and to welcome the coveted guest with the utmost pomp, nevertheless proposing to treat her with the detached attitude of one who knows well how to demean female pride.

Elvira wishes to take leave of her husband with a final farewell, nor can she console her for the easy harvest of Italian husbands and lovers that Lindoro, eager to leave, offers her. In the richest room of his palace, Mustafà receives Isabella. Master of dissimulation, with her seductive confidence she manages to strike him directly in her heart. In this way she obtains, first of all, that Taddeo, otherwise destined for the stake, has his life saved. Then, when Elvira and Lindoro show up for Mustafà's farewell, Isabella unexpectedly finds her loved one again. The two, without betraying each other, instantly recognize each other amidst the bewilderment of those present, who feel their mutual, unspeakable amazement. Isabella, having learned the fate of the new arrivals, peremptorily intervenes on her Bey: may he abandon any idea of ​​conquering her, before having renounced her barbaric customs. Therefore you refrain from dismissing your wife and place the slave Lindoro in direct and immediate service to him. Entangled in the mesh of love, Mustafà can only give in again, while everyone appears bewildered by the succession of such sudden changes in him.

SECOND ACT
While Elvira, Zulma and Haly comment on Isabella's shrewdness in deceiving Mustafà at will, he appears to ask the two women to announce a visit from him to the Italian. Incredulous of those who warn him of Isabella's sweet lies, Mustafà is sure he can conquer her by leveraging her ambition and with the help of her supposed uncle. Meanwhile, Isabella meets Lindoro: having ascertained his lack of interest in Elvira, she exposes him the idea of ​​an escape with the same ship that should have led her beloved to Italy together with the Bey's repudiated wife, and postpones to a subsequent appointment. in a grove the explanation of the details. In the meantime, to please Isabella and at the same time obtain the support of Taddeo in the work of conquering his alleged nephew, Mustafà grants the title of "Great Kaimakan" to Taddeo, who is therefore dressed as befits a Muslim lieutenant. The simple soul is not really at ease in the clothes and role that Mustafà imposes on him; however, he can only make the best of a bad situation and resign himself to the thought of abandoning himself in the arms of another