La capricciosa corretta is a comic opera in two acts composed by Vicente Martín y Soler. The libretto is by Lorenzo Da Ponte and has a plot which has a slight similarity to William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew, but is not based on it. The story takes place over a 24-hour period and examines the marriage of an older man to his vain and capricious second wife whose antics make her husband, stepchildren, and servants miserable until she is finally brought to heel through the machinations of her husband's major domo. The opera premiered under the title La scuola dei maritati at the King's Theatre in London on 27 January 1795 to considerable success. It was later performed throughout Europe under the alternative titles Gli sposi in contrasto, La moglie corretta, and La capricciosa corretta—the title used by Da Ponte and the one by which it is known today.
Vicente Martín y Soler
Lorenzo Da Ponte in old age (detail from a portrait attributed to Samuel Morse)
Anna Morichelli who created the role of Ciprigna, the "capricious woman" of the opera's title
Cover of the score for Ciprigna's Act 1 aria "Guardami un poco da capo a piedi" (Look at me a bit from head to toe), published in Naples c. 1798
Christophe Rousset is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18th centuries and is the founder of the French music ensemble Les Talens Lyriques.
Rousset in 2012