ADELSON & SALVINI
The action is set in Ireland in the seventeenth century.
ACT ONE
First Set. In the garden of the estate of Lord Adelson's castle.Fanny, a young pupil of Lord Adelson is secretly in love with his painting teacher, the Italian painter Salvini, a long-time guest of Adelson who considers him his best friend. Alone and absorbed in her painting, the girl sighs for her beloved. She is disturbed in her meditation by the arrival of her aunt Madama Rivers, the strict governess of the castle. Rivers announces the imminent return of Adelson after a long period of absence. Vassals and peasants all make ready to welcome their master with cele¬brations. Enter Geronio, a hifty haracter who has tricked his way into his lordship's service and who now insinuates that Adelson may not be returning but may be obliged to stay on at Court in London. Rivers retorts that this is impossible and that Adelson is surely eager to return to the castle where the noble orphan Nelly, his bride-to-be is awaiting him anxiously after being left without any news of Adelson for such a long time.
Second Set. In a wood near the castle.
Colonel Struley, a proscribed aristocrat, is waiting for Geronio, his accomplice and confidant who has entered into service in Adelson's house hold in order to assist the political exile Struley who requires a man inside the castle to act as a spy and to carry out his plans for vengeance. The colonel urns with hatred and resentment for Adelson whose father had proscribed the Struley family. Geronio arrives. He fears that somebody might see and recognise his master, but Struley reassures him: he is well disguised as a hunter. Struley is anxious to set his plan into action. Once again he will abduct Nelly, his niece; but this time the girl will not get away from him, indeed he is ready to attack her in her own rooms. Geronio is all the more worried but threatened by the wicked colonel he knows that he cannot draw back. Struley takes advantage of the fact that Geronio is a deserter and plays on this fact, reminding his man of what he must expect if he betrays him. Geronio's life is in Struley's hands and without his protection and connivance Geronio would be shot. Bonifacio, Salvini's Neapolitan servant is nearby. He and his master have long enjoyed the warm, generous hospitality of Adelson, who is bound to the painter by close friendship. Adelson's castle offers the two Italians comfortable security and Bonifacio is quite aware of this, having long experience of the unpaid bills that he and his feckless master had run up in Italy. However Bonifacio is hounded by creditors in Ireland too. He has just received a letter from his brother-in-law who suggests he flees, for his creditors have now discovered his whereabouts. Bonifacio recalls happier days of the past, when he was a rich dealer in cooked meats. His own prodigality had ruined him and transformed him from a master into a servant. He will ask Lord Adelson to help him. doesn't Adelson pay him indeed, as though he were his servant? Adelson is, after all, a good friend of Salvini's. And yet it is the confidence that Adelson has in Salvini that causes Bonifacio to worry about other problems too. The wise Neapolitan knows that he will be driven mad in the service of a master who is naturally passionate and melancholy and who is love-sick. Salvini suffers and, crazed by love as he is, now appears on the scene with a vacant gaze. The Italian painter is torn between two conflicting feelings, friendship and love, which are driving him to distraction and causing him to keep on meditating suicide. Salvini is secretly in love with Nelly, the fiancee of his friend and patron whose trust he would hate to betray. Bonifacio tries to dissuade him from his unhealthy feelings and grim intentions: he is young, why should he want to die? And for whom? For a woman? Surely she is not the only woman in the world who can stir his passion! Bonifacio no longer knows what to say to bring Salvini back to reason. Salvini curses the day when he arrived in Ireland to lose the esteem of his benefactor. Moved and desperate he thinks of his mother in Italy. Bonifacio too reminds his master of his obligation to loyalty and gratitude for Lord Adelson. he foresees disaster if Salvini cannot put an end to his foolish love. Although he is consumed with passion, the painter is also beginning to be nagged by scruples. For ten days now he has held on to a letter that Adelson sent to him to hand to Nelly, and now Nelly herself appears, weeping because her beloved has left her without any news for so long. Unable to bear the sight of the girl's suffering and moved by a sense of duty, Salvini makes his decision and with great difficulty starts to read the letter. The first few sentences are too harsh for Nelly: Adelson informs her that his uncle, whose sole heir he is, wants to force him to marry the daughter of a Peer. On hearing this Nelly is convinced that Adelson wants to abandon her. She thinks he has betrayed her and faints before Salvini can read the rest of the message in which her beloved assures her of his unchanging faith. Seeing the girl senseless and without defence Salvini cannot resist the temptation to embrace her. The girl comes round in his arms and accuses him of criminal audacity, condemning him as an ungrateful friend who has betrayed his friendship. Bonifacio appears. His presence convinces Nelly that she must make Salvini compose himself while she hides the confusion that she is feeling. Bonifacio invites her to rejoice for Adelson is now really on his way to the castle and has already been seen in the forest, where servants and shepherds are hurrying to meet him. Nelly still harbours a doubt: is Adelson perhaps bringing his new bride with him? Bonifacio reassures her again: a messenger has been sent on ahead of his lordship to tell her that he is hurrying to embrace his beloved fiancee. In the climate of universal rejoicing Salvini alone is torn by a pain that he cannot shake off, while Bonifacio hopes that the painter will succeed in controlling himself.
Third Set. A hall in the castle.
Everything is ready for the celebrations and the members of the household invite Bonifacio to make an impromptu speech of welcome. Adelson appears and reassures Nelly; how could she have doubted him? The emotion of this longexpected return and the gentle reproof are tempered by the laughter that is occasioned by Bonifacio's comical speech, but after these first few moments Adelson does not fail to notice the absence of Salvini. His joy cannot be complete if he cannot embrace his friend. In their embarrassment Nelly and Bonifacio, who know of the painter's torment, attempt to excuse him as does the unwitting, love-stricken Fanny. A general chorus sings of the happiness of this day which has seen the beloved master return to look after his subjects.
ACT TWO
In the garden of the castle grounds. All around there is an atmosphere of celebration in anticipation of the wedding of Adelson and Nelly. On the little temple where formetly a sign said "Al dispiacere" [To sorrow] we now read "A Imene" [To matrimony], Struley and Geronio creep onto the scene. Geronio begs the colonel to desist and not to place himself in such grave peril. But the presence of his enemy only encourages Struley's daring, and now he is ready to take advantage of a chance discovery made by Geronio. His servant has in fact told him that he has just seen the painter Salvini in the wood, invoking the name of Nelly and declaring that he is willing to do anything to win her love. Struley decides to trick Salvini with a false message that he himself will write. First he tells Geronio that he has a carriage standing ready for their flight that will bear them to the shore whence they will escape by ship. In order to put the plan into practice Geronio will set fire to the hunting lodge in the park and in the confusion that this will cause Struley will be able to snatch his prey. He warns Geronio once more not to make any mistake or to betray him, the deserter knows that his life is in the hands of Adelson's determined persecutor. In the castle Madama Rivers asks Bonifacio for news of Salvini. Once again Bonifacio tries to laugh the matter off, but with her customary severity Rivers reminds him that the painter had no right to cast a shadow over this happy day with his absence. Fanny too asks the Neapolitan if he has found his master; seeing Bonifacio's apparent indifference she decides that she herself will seek the Italian out. In conversation with Nelly, Adelson likewise displays his consternation, worry and astonishment at the behaviour of his friend. Nelly attempts to excuse the painter, mentioning the artist's strange humour and suggesting that he might have remained in the wood inspired to paint. Adelson is still not convinced by his beloved's words and he too decides to go and look for Salvini. Nelly, aware of the possible consequences of their meeting, wants to go with Adelson, but he dissuades her. The girl now speaks to Bonifacio, begging him to find Salvini and lead him away.
Whoever, she complains, would have expected such behaviour of Salvini. Bonifacio bursts out shifting part of the blame onto Nelly. Though she is virtuous and well- meaning, he tells her, she should have realised that by keeping company with the painter during Adelson's absence she could have brought this situation about. This is the way of the world, Bonifacio reminds her. Is she not young, beautiful and charming? Is Salvini not a man? Is man not made of flesh and blood? The fact that Salvini is Adelson's best friend, the only manhe ttusts, has brought Nelly and the artist too closely together and, Bonifacio blurts out, day by day the spark comes closer to the touch paper so that it is hardly surprising if one day the powder explodes. Nelly is offended and resentful but must admit that the wise Neapolitan is right. In the meantime Adelson has found Salvini, just in time to stop him from taking his own life. His generous spirit, not knowing what to think, imagines that he has somehow offended the painter. Salvini retorts in his ravings that he himself is guilty, though he does not explain the reason behind his desperate gesture. More anxious than before, Adelson can only think that Salvini is suffering for a question of love: he is then more to be understood than criticised. The only fault he finds in his friend is his stubborn silence, his refusal to open his heart and confide in a friend who is ready to make any sacrifice in order to see him happy again. This offer of solidarity casts Salvini into deep shame and now he is ready to fall at Adelson's feet in repentance. Adelson can make no sense of his friend's apparently meaningless utterings when the painter tells him that it is their friendship itself that is the cause of his unhappiness. More strongly convinced that he is the unwitting cause of his friend's extreme agitation, Adelson insists that he is willing to make any sacrifice to save Salvini from himself. Salvini, now convinced that Adelson has understood everything, illudes himself in thinking that the nobleman is prepared to renounce Nelly. Adelson, however, thinks that the object of Salvini's love is his protegee Fanny. Without realising that they have not understood each other the two friends renew their vows of eternal friendship. When Salvini is alone again Struley appears. Fie tells Salvini that he knows about his problem and is ready to make him happy: in exchange for Salvini assistance he is willing to grant him Nelly as his wife. When Salvini tells him of Adelson's selfless intention of renouncing Nelly for him, Struley tries to show the painter that Adelson's promise conceals a diabolical plan to dishonour the girl. To convince him Struley gives him a letter to read in which Adelson's uncle declares that his nephew may not marry Nelly since he is already bound, for reasons of interest and convenience, to another noble lady whose hand will assure him richness and a brilliant position at Court. In support of this affermation the proscribed gentleman introduces himself: he is Colonel Struley, Nelly's uncle; what is more, he states, the wedding ceremony that Adelson is about to celebrate with the young girl the next day is a false marriage which will permit him to seduce the unwitting maiden. Only then, perhaps, would the lord yield Nelly to Salvini. Faced with this description of blackguardy, Salvini is now convinced and agrees to help the girl's uncle. As soon as the two separate Bonifacio has a brief argument with the colonel, whom he has mistaken for a messenger or even an official sent by creditors, but Struley skilfully manages to shake him off and leaves. At last Bonifacio tracks Salvini down and hears the unlikely news that Adelson intends to renounce Nelly. The wily Neapolitan immediately sees that the matter is far from clear, especially as Salvini makes veiled..