Lo Speziale

Love and intrigue in a Fiat 500 - a comic opera signed Joseph Haydn.

Jan Willem de Vriend, conductor
Eva Buchmann, director/scenographer

Marina Zyatkova - Grilletta, soprano
Renate Arends - Volpino, soprano
Pawel Zak - Mengone, tenor
Enrico Marabelli - Sempronio, baritone

Lo Speziale - or The Apothecary - is a comic opera in three acts by Franz Josef Haydn with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni. It was first played in 1768 in Hungary, during the opening of the Esterházy Palace Opera House. It is called by many Haydn's best opera, with its witty and lively music, and its comic characters.

The action takes place in a pharmacy in a typical Venetian piazza. The old pharmacist Sempronio has decided to marry his young and attractive dog Grilletta. But she is also courted by two other suitors: the poor Mengone, who only works in the pharmacy to be near her, and the rich and self-conscious dandy Volpino.

In this setup, we take the pharmacy out on the road - in a converted Fiat 500, a 1950s icon from the Italian car industry.