page_title: Il pastor fido (Handel)
section_title: Act 2
hierarchical_section_title: Il pastor fido (Handel) / Synopsis / Act 2
caption_attribution_description: English: Caricature of Anna Maria Strada, 18th century opera singer
context_page_description: Il pastor fido is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was set to a libretto by Giacomo Rossi based on the famed and widely familiar pastoral poem of the same name by Giovanni Battista Guarini. It had its first performance on 22 November 1712 at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London.
context_section_description: In a rocky grove, Mirtillo sings himself to sleep with a song in praise of his beloved Amarilli. As he slumbers, Eurilla enters with a garland of flowers with a note "From someone who adores you and is waiting for you there" and places it on his body. When he awakes, he thinks it must be from Amarilli.
  Eurilla tells Amarilli that Mirtillo has received a love token and an invitation to an amorous tryst from another girl, which makes her very jealous.
  Meanwhile, Dorinda continues to pester Silvio with her protestations of affection, and he continues to make it clear he is not interested.
  Eurilla tells Mirtillo that his love is on her way and he should go into the nearby cave and wait for her, which he does. Eurilla then fetches Amarilli and tells her she can watch what Mirtillo is up to with the other girl from inside the same cave, and leads Amarilli into it too. Now that the two are in the cave together, Eurilla will go and tell the law authorities to arrest them for illicit sex, for which Arcadian law prescribes death for the female partner, Amarilli will be executed, and then Eurilla will have Mirtillo for her own.
caption: Caricature of Anna Maria Strada, who sang the role of Amarilli in the 1734 revivals
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