Gianni Schicchi

Wealthy Florentine Buoso Donati is dead, and his greedy relatives discover that he has left his fortune to the church. His nephew, Rinuccio suggests that his girlfriend’s father can help them. Enter Gianni Schicchi, a shrewd, self-made man with his daughter, Lauretta. Reading the will, Schicchi devises a plan. The relatives send for the notary and Schicchi, disguised as the Buosi, wearing his nightshirt and cap, dictates a new will from his “sickbed”, in which he leaves the greater part of the estate, including Buoso’s house, to his “dear friend Gianni Schicchi.” The relatives are furious, and stealing what they can from the house, are chased out by Schicchi, who remains with the happy lovers, Rinuccio and Lauretta. Given their happiness, he turns to the audience and pleads that he is not judged too harshly.

Suor Angelica

Set in Italy at the end of the 17th century, Suor Angelica is the tragic tale of a Florentine noblewoman who bears a child out of wedlock and is sent to a convent to repent for her sins. Angelica’s Aunt, The Princess, visits, her first visitor in seven years. She asks frantically for news of her son. The Aunt’s response is devastating. Two years previously, he was stricken with a mortal sickness, and nothing could save him. Sister Angelica is seized by a heavenly vision – believes she hears her son calling for her to meet him in paradise. She makes a poison and drinks it but realizes that suicide is a mortal sin and has damned herself to eternal separation from her son. Praying for forgiveness, she dies with a vision of her son greeting her in heaven.