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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 20. August 8 1977

Two Short Operas

Two Short Operas

"Le Sposo Deluso" was the Original title of an uncompleted work scripted by Da Poute, who did the librettos for Don Giovanni and Marriage of Figaro. Mozart was not happy with it, and did not complete it. It was not until 1956 that this version was given its first performance by the City Opera Club in London. The adaptation was make by John Coombs and incorporates the original "Sposo" music with the addition of several ensembles and arias from other previously unpublished works.

Donizetti's II Campanello is a farce — a particular kind of comedy which all too often we glibly interpret simply as slapstick. Undoubtedly slapstick is one of its features, but the way it works is more subtle than that. Farce shows us an exaggeration or distortion of reality ; that has got out of control. For this reason it is important that Donizetti begins his opera in normality ; with a wedding celebration which, for all its high spirits, appears perfectly within the bounds of realism. But it is not until midnight has sounded, and the witching hour has come, that distortion gains the upper hand, and, from Don Annibale's point of view, the nightmare begins.