Juilliard Opera: La Finta Giardiniera April 26, 2007

This opera was composed when Mozart was only 18 years old. Before the action takes place on stage, Count Belfiore, in a passionate fit stabs his lover, Marchioness Violante Onesti. He flees after he thinks he has killed her. However, Violante is not dead. The wound is serious, but it heals. Her heart does not. She is still in love with the Count. She disguises herself as a gardener's girl and sets out in search of Belfiore.