Haydn’s L’isola Disabitata

Written in 1779, L’isola disabitata is set to a text by the 18th century’s most important librettist, Pietro Metastasio. The story tells of the sisters Costanza and Silvia who have lived alone on a desert island for 13 years after a bad storm forced their ship to port. When they landed, Costanza’s husband Gernando was abducted by pirates. He has spent the intervening years as a slave. Costanza is about to commit suicide when Gernando and his friend Enrico return to the island to find the sisters. And all’s well that ends well.