Le astuzie femminili

Le astuzie femminili (Feminine wiles) is an dramma giocoso in four acts by composer Domenico Cimarosa with an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Palomba. The opera buffa first premiered at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples, Italy on August 26, 1794. The opera subsequently premiered in Barcelona in 1795, Lisbon in 1797, Vienna in 1799, Paris in 1802, and London in 1804, remaining popular during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Although not performed often today, the opera is still occasionally revived and a number of recordings have been made.^[1]

It is at a disappointing London performance of Le astuzie feminili that Stephen Maturin glimpses Diana Villiers, now a kept woman, in Patrick O'Brian's historical novel Post Captain.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, August 26, 1794 (Conductor: - )
Signor Lasagna Giampaolo	bass	Carlo Casaccia "Casacciello"
Bellina, pupil of Dottor Romualdo	soprano	Giovanna Codecasa
Dottor (doctor) Romualdo	baritone	Luigi Martinelli
Filandro, in love with Bellina	tenor	Antonio Benelli
Ersilia, Bellina's close friend	soprano	Marianna Muraglia
Leonora, a governess	mezzo-soprano	Luisa Negri

Discography

• Le astuzie femminili with conductor Mario Rossi and the Coro e Orchestra Sinfonica di Napoli della RAI. Cast includes: Sesto Bruscantini (Lasagna), Graziella Sciutti (Bellina), Franco Calabrese (Don Romualdo), Luigi Alva (Filandro), Renata Mattioli (Ersilia), and Anna Maria Rota (Leonora). Released in 1959 on the Voce label.

• Le astuzie femminili with conductor Massimo de Bernart and the Orchestre du Festival Martina Franca. Cast includes: Nelson Portella (Lasagna), Daniela Dessi (Bellina), Simone Alaimo (Don Romualdo), Michele Faruggia (Filandro), Adele Cossi (Ersilia), and Petra Malakova (Leonora). Recorded live in 1984 and released on the Fonit Cetra label.

References

Notes

1. Le astuzie femminili von Cimarosa

Sources

• Amadeus Almanac

External links

• Online libretto in Italian