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Pavilion in the Court of Barataria
(Three Months Later)
(Three Months Later)
Both Marco and Giuseppe, when they were Gondoliers, had ideas on Republican government, and they have reorganized the state on their idealistic principles. The result is somewhat chaotic, but they seem to enjoy it, and as the act opens they are seen cleaning the royal crown and sceptre whilst they sit, clad in magnificent robes, on the royal throne. If they want anything done they have to do it themselves. In a delightful little song, "Of happiness the very pith," Giuseppe outlines his day's work as a monarch about the palace. Only one thing is missing, they feel-
Scarcely have they confessed the fact when the contadine run in, led by
In honor of their arrival Giuseppe and Marco announce a grand banquet and dance. In the middle of a brilliant cachucha there is an unexpected interruption. Don Alhambra enters. He is astonished at the scene, and tries, by quoting an example, to explain where their theories of government are wrong.
He announces the arrival of Casilda. One of them, he says, Marco or Giuseppe (whichever is the real King of Barataria), is married to the beautiful Casilda, and is, of course, an unintentional bigamist if he has married a contadina in the meantime. Poor Tessa and Gianetta are very upset. By the light of this new exposure, one of them is married and one of them is not. But they cannot tell which it is. They burst into tears.
Meanwhile Casilda is afraid that she will never learn to love her husband. The Duchess is firm. "I loved your father," she says, and proceeds to explain how she married and "tamed" him. The Duke has turned his social prestige to account and has become a limited company. His daughter feels that there is hope that when the King sees what a shady family he has married into he will refuse to recognize the alliance. Both the Duke and the Duchess repudiate the statement that their transactions are shady in a delightful duet, "To help unhappy commoners".
Marco and Giuseppe explain the state of the country and the attitude of their subjects towards them. The Duke, in the famous Gavotte, "I am a courtier," instructs them on the correct demeanor of a king, which they try, very awkwardly, to adopt. Marco and Giuseppe are tactfully left alone with Casilda, but Gianetta and Tessa come in, and they all discuss the highly complicated problem of exactly who is married and who is not.
Meanwhile Casilda is afraid that she will never learn to love her husband. The Duchess is firm. "I loved your father," she says, and proceeds to explain how she married and "tamed" him. The Duke has turned his social prestige to account and has become a limited company. His daughter feels that there is hope that when the King sees what a shady family he has married into he will refuse to recognize the alliance. Both the Duke and the Duchess repudiate the statement that their transactions are shady in a delightful duet, "To help unhappy commoners".
Marco and Giuseppe explain the state of the country and the attitude of their subjects towards them. The Duke, in the famous Gavotte, "I am a courtier," instructs them on the correct demeanor of a king, which they try, very awkwardly, to adopt. Marco and Giuseppe are tactfully left alone with Casilda, but Gianetta and Tessa come in, and they all discuss the highly complicated problem of exactly who is married and who is not.
They are interrupted by Don Alhambra, who enters, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess and all the court of Barataria. Inez, the fostermother of the Prince has been found. She alone can unravel the mystery. Inez is brought forward. She confesses that when she took care of the royal prince, and there was an attempt to steal the child, she substituted her own little boy. The traitorous bands never knew the difference, and the child she slyly called her "son" is none other than the King of Barataria.
