Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi

SYNOPSIS

ACT I In old Florence in the home of Buoso Donati, his family pretends sorrow that he has just died. His brother- in-law, Betto, overheard rumors that Buoso, head of one of Florence’s richest families, left his fortune to a monastery, which sends the family into a frenzied search for the dead man’s will. The nephew, Rinuccio, finds it and asks his aunt Zita for permission to marry Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi’s daughter, if Buoso has left him well-off (“Salvàti! Il testamento di Buoso Donati!”). His aunt agrees, and Rinuccio sends for Schicchi, a clever country bumpkin. But everyone’s hopes are dashed when they discover that, indeed, the old man did leave everything to the monks. Rinuccio suggests that Schicchi is the only person clever enough to save them, but his family will have none of it. To them, he’s a low-born peasant, but Rinuccio tries to convince them that, just as Florence draws strength from its newcomers, so can they rely on Schicchi to help them (“Firenze è come un albero fiorito”).

Schicchi and Lauretta arrive. Zita refuses to give her nephew to a girl without a dowry, and Schicchi tells his daughter that the Donati family worships only greed. Rinuccio asks Schicchi to take a look at the will, but he refuses. His daughter’s pleas change his mind (“O mio babbino caro”). Schicchi weighs the situation and hatches a plan: the Donatis must keep Buoso’s death a secret long enough for Schicchi, disguised as the old man, to draw up a new will. The family eagerly agrees and each member tells Schicchi what they want, even offering him money for certain properties. The women put him into bedclothes and tuck him into Buoso’s bed (“Spogliati, bambolino”). When the notary arrives, Schicchi dictates the will—five florins to the monks, some pastures and country houses to the family, but the bulk of the estate, including the Donati house in Florence, to Buoso’s good friend Gianni Schicchi. When the notary and the witnesses leave, Schicchi drives the Donatis out of what is now his house. But Lauretta and Rinuccio are now free to marry.

(For his little prank, Gianni Schicchi was condemned by Dante to the eighth circle of hell, where he resides to this day.)

—Synopsis courtesy of Los Angeles Opera, with contributions by William Friedkin

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