La vera costanza

"La vera costanza" ("True Constancy"), Hob. 28/8, is an operatic dramma giocoso by Joseph Haydn. The Italian libretto was a shortened version of the one by Francesco Puttini set by Pasquale Anfossi for the opera of the same name given in 1776.

Performance history

The work was written for the Eszterházy court and first performed on 25 April 1779. It was revived there in April 1785 when Haydn apparently had to re-create much of the opera from memory, the original having been largely lost. It was given in Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna and Brno between 1786 and 1792 under the title "Der flatterhafte Liebhaber". In Paris in 1791, it was performed as "Laurette".

Roles

The opera is scored for one (or two) flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, timpani, strings, continuo.

ources

*Clark, Caryl (1992), 'Vera costanza, La' in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7