Dramma giocoso in three acts
Libretto by Giovanni Petrosellini
Over three acts, seven lovers are subjected to all the highs and lows of their passions until, by the end, three couples have got together and one character is left on the shelf … The romantic entanglements in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera (The Pretend Garden-Girl) centre on Marchioness Violante Onesti, who wishes to win back her former lover and, to this end, has disguised herself as a gardener called Sandrina. But in no time at all her feelings are as rampant and uncontrollable as the plants in her employer's garden. Who is play-acting, and who really means it? No wonder all the protagonists end up thinking that they are going mad! Masked revels and wild abandon were also the real-life occasion that prompted the composition because Mozart wrote La finta giardiniera in 1775 for the Munich Carnival. This work marks the first time that the composer, 18 years old at the time, deals with a subject that was to be a constant preoccupation in his further career: Even the most passionate declarations of fidelity and the most sincere marriage vows are powerless in the face of mighty Eros. Mozart masterfully interweaves tragic and burlesque scenes and, with this opera, writes his first instructive “school for lovers”.
In Italian with German and English surtitles
Introduction to the work 30 minutes before curtain-up
Trailer
La Folia Barockorchester
Michaella Cipriani, Elisabeth Freyhoff, Anton Beliaev:
CAMPUS collaboration with students of Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin
and the theater academy August Everding München
The Marchesa Violante Onesti was engaged to be married to Count Belfiore before he seriously injured her in a fit of jealousy. Believing that he had killed her, he fled. Violante survived the attack and is now searching for him. In order to do so incognito she has disguised herself as a gardener and taken a job with Don Anchise under the name of Sandrina. She is accompanied by her servant Roberto who has adopted the alias “Nardo”.
Act 1
At the house of Don Anchise, emotions are in turmoil. He himself has fallen in love with Sandrina and has therefore abandoned his previous mistress, the maid Serpetta. Serpetta is now being pursued by Nardo. In the meantime, Arminda, Don Anchise’s niece, arrives. She plans to marry a count and has therefore left her former fiancé, Cavaliere Ramiro. The count is none other than Belfiore who, shortly after arriving, encounters Sandrina. Both are shocked.
Act 2
Don Anchise receives the order to arrest Belfiore on suspicion of murdering Marchesa Violante Onesti. To save him, Sandrina reveals herself to be Violante. But once the danger of an arrest has passed she denies that she is Violante and runs off. Everyone follows her outside, gets caught in a storm and takes refuge in a quarry. Belfiore and Sandrina are under such emotional stress that they temporarily lose their minds.
Act 3
Next day, all the problems are resolved: they all forgive one another and the couples are united with their proper partners. Only one person is left unspoken for.
