from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Arminda, lady of Milan, niece of Anchises, was in love with Ramiro but now promised to Belfiore

Voice Part: soprano

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: After Belfiore declares his love to Arminda, she warns him to not to cheat on her. Men, in her opinion, always promise to be faithful but they go out and betray them. Arminda says if he tries the same trick on her, she will definitely get her revenge even if she does love him now.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Arminda, lady of Milan, niece of Anchises, was in love with Ramiro but now promised to Belfiore

Voice Part: soprano

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Arminda hears Belfiore mention Sandrina, the name his former love, Violante, is using for her disguise. She is very angry to hear this from him on their wedding day. She sings that she would like to tear out his heart to punish him. She restrains herself, though, because she loves him. She cannot decide if she should be angry towards him or if she should forgive him.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Count Belfiore, in love with Arminda, previously in love with Violante

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: tenor leggiero

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Belfiore is questioned by Anchises about whether he killed Violante or not. He begins to incriminate himself but Violante saves him. She reveals that she is not Sandrina the garden maid, but really Marchioness Violante Onesti and, since she is there, he couldn't have killed her. Arminda becomes jealous and leaves and Anchises, who was in love with Sandrina, also departs in a rage. Belfiore is left alone with Violante, but she also leaves. He attempts to stop her in the accompanied recitative but is unable to. In the aria, he describes the cold and trembling unhappiness he feels. Nearby, though, he feels a light breeze and he is also able to see the sun in front of him, so he realizes that some hope still remains.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Count Belfiore, in love with Arminda, previously in love with Violante

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: tenor leggiero

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Violante, who is in disguise as a gardener girl named Sandrina, tells Belfiore that, as Violante lay dying, she told Sandrina that Belfiore was an unpleasant person. She wants Belfiore to leave her alone. During his aria, he wants Sandrina (who is really Violante) to look at him, but she doesn't. Finally, he gets ready to leave but asks to kiss her hand before he leaves. Instead of kissing Sandrina's hand, he actually kisses the hand of Don Anchises who has come up next to her. When Belfiore realizes this, he apologizes and then curses his bad luck.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Count Belfiore, in love with Arminda, previously in love with Violante

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: tenor leggiero

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Belfiore arrives in a carriage and as he looks at a portrait of Arminda, praises her beauty and radiance. He is also directly complimenting Arminda who is present during the entire aria.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Count Belfiore, in love with Arminda, previously in love with Violante

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: tenor leggiero

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: In a failed attempt to impress Arminda, Belfiore recites his impressive lineage. He wonders why Arminda begins to laugh at him though in the middle. He believes that she should be bowing to her.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Don Anchises, Podestà of Lagonero, in love with Sandrina

Voice Part: tenor

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: After he has told Sandrina how much he loves her, Anchises describes the sound of the orchestra with its flutes and oboes and its drum and trumpets. The mighty sound almost makes him mad.

from Act III of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Don Anchises, Podestà of Lagonero, in love with Sandrina

Voice Part: tenor

Setting: the courtyard in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Everyone is arguing about who will marry who and Anchises tries to arbitrate. In his aria, he attempts to talk to all of them at once and ends up becoming incomprehensible.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Don Anchises, Podestà of Lagonero, in love with Sandrina

Voice Part: tenor

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Arminda enters and declares that she has decided to marry Belfiore. After her, though, comes Ramiro who has come to take Belfiore to jail for the alleged murder of Violante. Anchises is concerned about this charge and, in his aria, declares that, if he were to let his niece Arminda marry this man, he would become the ridicule of the whole world. So, he declares that it will not happen.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Marchioness Violante Onesti, in disguise as a gardener named Sandrina, in love with Count Belfiore

Voice Part: soprano

Setting: a dark deserted cave

Synopsis: After trying to find a way out of the cave in which she is trapped, Violante is stricken by grief. She sings that she cannot breathe because she is crying so much. She has given up all chances to get out of this situation.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Marchioness Violante Onesti, in disguise as a gardener named Sandrina, in love with Count Belfiore

Voice Part: soprano

Setting: a dark deserted cave

Synopsis: Violante has been abducted and left in a dark cave alone. In her aria, she expresses her fear and anger at being left alone. She asks the gods to help her.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Marchioness Violante Onesti, in disguise as a gardener named Sandrina, in love with Count Belfiore

Voice Part: soprano

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Violante expresses her loneliness in this aria, comparing herself to a turtledove who is far from the nest.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Marchioness Violante Onesti, in disguise as a gardener named Sandrina, in love with Count Belfiore

Voice Part: soprano

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Anchises has just told Violante that he loves her. She is rather disgusted by this, though, and thinks about leaving this job. She sings her aria about the injustice that women face because men force themselves upon them.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Marchioness Violante Onesti, in disguise as a gardener named Sandrina, in love with Count Belfiore

Voice Part: soprano

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: After reprimanding Anchises for being insulting towards her, she realizes that she probably shouldn't have lost her temper. She blames herself and, to try to make him forgive her, she sings this aria. She says that her heart is telling her that Anchises is good although he may appear to scorn her. She sings that his anger towards her has made her sad and she asks all maidens who see her to console her for her sorry fate.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Ramiro, rejected lover of Arminda

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: male soprano|lyric soprano|lyric mezzo

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Ramiro tries to approach Arminda and speak to her, but she will have nothing to do with her and leaves him. He has not given up though and declares in his aria that he still has hope and that hope will sustain him through all else.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Ramiro, rejected lover of Arminda

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: male soprano|lyric soprano|lyric mezzo

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Anchises tells Ramiro that, even though Arminda may not love him any more, Ramiro will be able to find another woman soon. Ramiro responds with this aria, singing that, like a bird who escapes from a cage, he will not return to that sort of imprisonment soon.

from Act III of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Ramiro, rejected lover of Arminda

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: male soprano|lyric soprano|lyric mezzo

Setting: the courtyard of Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Arminda tells Ramiro that he has no chance of winning her love and that he should forget him. She leaves him there alone. He sings that, even if she finds another man and even though he is deeply pained, he shall be hers until he dies.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Roberto, servant of Violante, disguised as her brother Nardo, in love with Serpetta

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: lyric baritone

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Roberto believes that he is in the worst situation possible. He is attempting to win Serpetta, but it seems to him that sculpting marble or forging iron is less difficult than taming a woman. He wonders why men are such fools to even try.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Roberto, servant of Violante, disguised as her brother Nardo, in love with Serpetta

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: lyric baritone

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Serpetta says that, if Roberto will sing her a love song, she will love him. He sings her this multi-lingual aria which includes phrases of love in Italian, French, and English in his attempt to impress her. She is not impressed though and he becomes frustrated.

from Act III of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Roberto, servant of Violante, disguised as her brother Nardo, in love with Serpetta

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: lyric baritone

Setting: the courtyard at Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Violante and Belfiore have gone insane. Violante thinks she is Herminea, Roberto's lover, and Belfiore believes that Roberto is Venus and tries to approach her amorously. Roberto is very embarassed by all this and distracts them both in this aria by telling them to look at the heavens.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Roberto, servant of Violante, disguised as her brother Nardo, in love with Serpetta

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: lyric baritone

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Roberto knows that Serpetta would like to marry soon and that she prefers younger men. He tries to convince her that an older man like him is better than a young one.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Serpetta, maid of the Podestà, in love with him

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: soubrette

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Roberto would like to marry Serpetta. She is sure that she could do better, though, and outlines the way she will get a husband in her aria. She sings that men come to her as soon as they see her. They expect that she will give into them but she just lets them go on their way.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Serpetta, maid of the Podestà, in love with him

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: soubrette

Setting: a hall in Anchises's palace

Synopsis: Serpetta tells Roberto in this aria that he should not push her so much into loving her. She knows that she should be sincere and cheerful but that doesn't work today with men. The only thing to do is to pretend to be shy and make excuses to make the men long for you. She then finishes the aria by saying that she learned this tactic from her mother.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Finta Giardiniera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Ranieri Calzabigi

Role: Serpetta, maid of the Podestà, in love with him

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: soubrette

Setting: the garden of Don Anchises

Synopsis: Serpetta would like to marry soon and Roberto knows it. He is trying to get her to marry him but she tells him that an old man like him is not right for her.