L’Incontro Improvviso

Joseph Haydn
Comic opera in three acts, 1775.
Libretto by Carl Friberth
(adapted and translated from the French opera-comique by Louis Hurtaut Dancourt).
Première at Esterháza in Fertőd, Hungary, on 29 August 1775.

CHARACTERS

Synopsis

ACT I

A storehouse of all kinds of merchandise and edibles
The qalandar and dervishes drink wine, smoke tobacco and sing merrily of their life as beggars and tricksters.
A square
Osmin is distracted by the qalandar begging; he has little trouble in persuading the hungry Osmin to become a mendicant dervish.
A room in the seraglio
Rezia has been told that her long-lost love has been sighted in Cairo, and shares the news with Balkis and Dardane in a beautiful trio.
A square
Ali, alone, explains how he fled to Persia and fell in love with Rezia. Though betrothed to another, Rezia eloped with Ali but they were separated and she was captured by pirates. Ali watches as Osmin is taught by the Qalandar the chant "Castagna, castagna". The Qalandar recognises Ali as the Prince of Balsóra. Balkis greets Ali with news that a woman has espied him from a window in the seraglio and wishes to meet him.

A room containing a banquet table
Osmin is enjoying a feast with Ali arrives with Balkis, and Ali gets increasingly angry with Osmin's inebriation.

Act II

A room with a sofa
Dardane tries to charm Ali to test his faithfulness. Rezia enters, taking Ali and Osmin by surprise. The three women tell of the unfortunate travels which brought them to Cairo.
The qalandar's room
Osmin informs the qalandar that Ali's lover is Rezia and solicits his help in letting the couple escape.
A garden
While preparations are made for a banquet before their escape, Rezia and Ali sing a love duet. The mood is shattered when Balkis and Dardane come in to announce that the Sultan has returned unexpectedly from the hunt. Everyone flees via a secret staircase.

Act III

Night. The qalandar's storehouse
News of the Sultan's reward for the recovery of Rezia has reached the qalandar who decides to betray them to win the bounty. Ali disguises himself as a French painter to avoid arrest, but to no avail. The Sultan however forgives them and condemns the treacherous qalandar.
A hall lit by chandeliers
The Sultan pardons Rezia and Ali and gives them his blessing. At the couple's request the qalandar is pardoned, but banished from Cairo.

Source: Wikipedia
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