Rita

by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848).
Opéra comique in one act. 1841.
Libretto by Gustave Vaëz.
First performance by the Paris Opéra-Comique at the Salle Favart on 7th May 1860.

The inn-keeper Rita maltreats her subservient husband Peppe, who is taught how to stand up to his wife by her former husband Gaspar, who has returned from Canada to secure an annulment of a marriage that had remained unconsummated. Peppe sees in Gaspar a chance of escape in gambling possession of Rita on a game of cards, the loser to win the woman. Matters are resolved when Peppe learns how to deal with his wife.

Rita, ou le mari battu (Rita, or The Beaten Husband) was written within the space of a week, after a chance meeting with Gustave Vaëz had elicited from him a short libretto. The work has eight numbers separated by spoken dialogue. It was not staged until after the composer's death.