Gli equivoci is an opera buffa

Opera buffa

Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...

 by Stephen Storace

Stephen Storace

Stephen Storace was an English composer. His sister was the famous opera singer Nancy Storace. He was born in London in the Parish of St Marylebone to an English mother and Italian father...

 to a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Lorenzo da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....

, based on Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...

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Following the success of his libretto for Le nozze di Figaro, Da Ponte was asked by Storace to provide for him a libretto based on Shakespeare. Da Ponte compressed Shakespeare's plot into two acts, but retained nearly all the key elements. Gli Equivoci was the second of Storace's operas to be performed at the Burgtheater.

Storace was to reuse some of the music of Gli equivoci in his English operas, including No song, no supper

No song, no supper

No song, no supper is an opera with music by Stephen Storace to a libretto by Prince Hoare.No song, no supper is an operatic afterpiece which is the first of Storace's five collaborations with Hoare. Its premiere was at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, on April 16, 1790.The piece was first given...

and The Pirates

The Pirates

The Pirates is an opera by composer Stephen Storace with an English libretto by James Cobb. The work was partly adapted from Storace's 1786 opera, Gli equivoci and is remarkable as affording one of the earliest instances of the introduction of a grand finale into an English opera. The work...

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Performance history

The opera was first performed on 27 December 1786 in the Burgtheater

Burgtheater

The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...

, Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

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Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 27 December, 1786 Conductor:
Eufemio of Syracuse Syracuse, Italy Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in... , son of Egeon and twin brother of Eufemio of Ephesus	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Vincenzo Calvesi Vincenzo Calvesi Vincenzo Calvesi was an Italian operatic tenor and impresario. A skillful lyric tenor, he began his career performing in opera houses in Italy during the 1770s. He was active in Dresden in 1782 to 1783 and then spent most of his time performing in Vienna from 1785 to 1794...
Dromio of Syracuse, servant of Eufemio of Syracuse and twin brother of Dromio of Ephesus	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Eufemio of Ephesus Ephesus Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era... , son of Egeon and twin brother of Eufemio of Syracuse	tenor	Michael Kelly
Dromio of Ephesus, servant of Eufemio of Ephesus and twin brother of Dromio of Syracuse	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Silinus, Duke of Ephesus	baritone
Egeon, a merchant from Syracuse	baritone
Sofronia, wife of Eufemio of Ephesus	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Nancy Storace Nancy Storace Nancy Storace , , was an English operatic soprano...
Sostrate, sister of Sofronia	soprano
Angelo, a goldsmith	baritone
Lesbia, wife of Dromio of Syracuse	soprano
Dromia, young child of Lesbia and Dromio of Syracuse	soprano