page_title: La capricciosa corretta
section_title: Synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: La capricciosa corretta / Synopsis
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of the Italian opera singer Giovanni Morelli (floruit 1787-1815)
context_page_description: La capricciosa corretta is a comic opera in two acts composed by Vicente Martín y Soler. The libretto is by Lorenzo Da Ponte and has a plot which has a slight similarity to William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew, but is not based on it. The story takes place over a 24-hour period and examines the marriage of an older man to his vain and capricious second wife whose antics make her husband, stepchildren, and servants miserable until she is finally brought to heel through the machinations of her husband's major domo. The opera premiered under the title La scuola dei maritati at the King's Theatre in London on 27 January 1795 to considerable success. It was later performed throughout Europe under the alternative titles Gli sposi in contrasto, La moglie corretta, and La capricciosa corretta—the title used by Da Ponte and the one by which it is known today.
context_section_description: Setting: A villa in Naples in the late 18th century. The action takes place over a single day.
  Act 1
  Bonario, a wealthy but mild-mannered merchant and former widower, is now married to Ciprigna. Much younger than her husband, Ciprigna is vain, capricious, and bullying. Bonario's children from his first marriage, Valerio and Isabella, and his servants, Fiuta the major domo and Cilia the maid, are so exasperated by her behaviour that they confront Bonario and threaten to leave his house unless he does something to curb his new wife's antics. Giglio, Ciprigna's fawning and flamboyant cavaliere servente, arrives and pays court to her. Their encounter in the garden is observed by Bonario, his children, and the servants. Bonario prepares a speech which he plans to deliver to Ciprigna in an attempt to reassert his authority but accidentally drops it. When she finds it, the outraged Ciprigna unbraids her husband in a lengthy tirade. Fiuta reproves his master for cowardice.
  The young count Lelio, who is in love with Isabella, arrives to request her hand in marriage. Ciprigna is unaware of the purpose of his visit and smitten by the handsome young man, begins to flirt with him. Fiuta advises Lelio to play along with the flirtation in order to trap her. Bonario rehearses a new speech to his wife in front of an empty chair. Fiuta provides his master with pistols which he can use to intimidate Ciprigna when he makes his speech. However, she grabs the pistols, turns them on Bonario, and further terrifies him. Meanwhile, Valerio, Cilia and Fiuta trick Giglio into believing that assassins are after him. He hides in a closet from which he observes Lelio and Ciprigna's flirtation and her attempts to seduce him. When Giglio's hiding place is exposed, the act ends in uproar and confusion.
  Act 2
  Worried about her reputation, Isabella rejects the suggestion that she elope with Lelio, while Valerio reiterates his threat to leave home and join the army. Undeterred, Fiuta vows to devise a new plan to defeat Ciprigna and promises to marry Cilia if he succeeds. Ciprigna, still unaware of Lelio's love for Isabella, is determined to have him. She tells Lelio that she has dismissed Giglio on finding out that he was already married and presents Lelio with jewels and property deeds belonging to Bonario. Lelio returns them to Bonario, who is so impressed that he consents to his marriage to Isabella. The furious Ciprigna then writes a letter to Giglio instructing him to kidnap Isabella and place her in a convent. Later, a mysterious oriental ambassador calling himself Irco Berlico (but actually Fiuta in disguise) arrives in Ciprigna's rooms accompanied by a retinue of Turks and Moors and praises her beauty. He convinces her to return with him to a magic island where she will be declared queen by forty young men and where she will remain forever young and beautiful.
  As Ciprigna makes preparations to leave that night with the mysterious ambassador, Cilia discovers the plot to kidnap Isabella who is then rescued by Lelio. Later that night Ciprigna is about to depart for the magic island, but hears gunfire and then finds herself locked outside in a huge thunderstorm. Terrified, she begs to be let back into the house, seeks Bonario's forgiveness, and promises to submit to his authority. She is further humiliated when Fiuta reveals that he was the fictitious ambassador and the family berate her for her foolishness. She acknowledges her debt to Fiuta for bringing about her reform. Giglio is forgiven by the family but sent on his way. Bonario orders a feast to be prepared to celebrate the family's reconciliation.
caption: Giovanni Morelli who created the role of Bonario, Ciprigna's browbeaten husband
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