L'equivoco stravagante

Dramma Giocoso (Humorous Drama) in two acts
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Gaetano Gasbarri
Sung in Italian with English surtitles

First performance 26 October, 1811 at the Teatro del Corso, Bologna
Previously staged at Wexford Festival Opera in October 1968

A joyous early work by Rossini, L’equivoco stravagante is a fast-paced, playful exploration of social climbing and the lengths we go to for love. Musically brilliant, it’s the ultimate fun night at the opera.

A sparkling farce of absurd misunderstandings, youthful wit, rapid-fire ensembles and comic excess, L’equivoco stravagante was Rossini’s first large-scale opera. It vanished from the repertoire after falling foul of the censor due to its subversive libretto. Wexford was one of the first companies to present it in 1968.

The title means something like ‘The Bizzare Misunderstanding’ and premiered in Bologna in 1811, when the young composer was still only 19 years of age. This production returns following a historic public vote last summer. In a first for the Festival, audiences from 30 countries chose (by way of a vote) the ‘fun’ opera for the 75th Anniversary, marking the first time a production has been selected by popular demand.

Directed by Max Hoehn and conducted by Riccardo Bisatti, both making their Wexford debuts, this production is a masterclass in Rossini’s signature buffo (comic) style. In it we meet Gamberotto, a wealthy farmer with high-society ambitions for his bookish daughter, Ernestina. While he attempts to marry her off to the rich (but dim-witted) Buralicchio, the penniless Ermanno has other plans. What follows is a whirlwind of subversion, outrageous disguises, and a ‘bizarre misunderstanding’ involving a fake identity that once proved too scandalous for the 19th-century censors.