ANTONIO SALIERI: THE SCHOOL FOR JEALOUSY

The version used is by Bampton Opera

Musical Director: Steven Devine
Producer: Michael Burden

The Warden’s Garden

2 July (Preview), 5, 8, 9, 11 July 2025, 6.30pm

The Evening’s Events
6.00pm Drinks in the Cloisters
6.30pm Opera Act I
7.45pm Picnic Interval in the Cloisters (Bring your own picnic)
9.00pm; Acts II and III
10.30pm Curtain down

Tickets

July 2: (Preview) New Chamber Opera – Tickets available from Ticketsource

July 5: New College Development Office – contact [email protected] for ticket information.

July 8: New Chamber Opera – Tickets available from Ticketsource
OXPIP – Tickets available from OXPIP

July 9: Friends of the Oxford Botanic Gardens – Tickets available from the Oxford Botanic Gardens and Arboretum

July 11: New College Development Office – contact [email protected] for ticket information

Cast

Blasio, a grain merchant
Carlotta, a chambermaid
Lumaca, servant to Blasio
Ernestina, married to Blasio
Countess Bandiera
Count Bandiera
Tenente, Blasio’s cousin and friend to the Count

Salieri’s opera of jealous derring-do tells the story of the merchant Blasio’s jealous love for his wife Ernestina; of the Count of Baniera’s love for Ernestina; of the Countess’s supposed love for the Lieutenant; and of Blasio’s love for Lisetta (who we never see in the opera). All are reconciled in the finale which takes place in the woods. The plot has been understood as a set of dangerous (but unrealised) entanglements, in which the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, and the servant class come close to crossing established social norms.

First performed in Venice on 27 December 1778, the work was soon being seen in Vienna, and London, and it was much admired. Goethe’s well-known letter recounts: ‘Yesterday’s opera was charming, and well executed, it was the Scuola de Gelosi, Music by Salieri, opera favorite of the public, and the public is right. There is an astonishing richness, variety, and everything is treated with a very delicate taste. My heart was moved by every tune, especially the finales and quintets which are admirable’. And so they are!