Il burbero di buon cuore
Il burbero di buon cuore is an opera dramma giocoso in two acts by Vicente Martín y Soler. The Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte is based on the French comedy Le bourru bienfaisant by Carlo Goldoni. The opera premiered on January 4, 1786 in Vienna at the Burgtheater with a cast that included three well known Viennese singers of the day: Nancy Storace as Angelica, Francesco Benucci as Ferramondo, and Maria Mandini as Marina. The opera premiered in the same year and at the same house as Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and both operas enjoyed revivals at the Burgtheater three years later — each boasting two new arias for new leading ladies. The new arias for Il burbero di buon cuore were actually composed by Mozart, as Martín y Soler had left Vienna to work at the court of Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg. The opera recently received its first modern revival in 2007 at the Teatro Real in Madrid, a performance which was videotaped live and released on DVD in 2009.Roles