L'occasione fa il robber

L'occasione fa il ladro (Opportunity Makes a Thief) during Rossini's lifetime was his most popular one-stroke opera. It was composed in 1812 to a libretto by Luigi Prividale based on Eugéne Scribe's vaudeville, and its action is driven by the accidental swapping of suitcases leading to a series of mistakes and conscious changes of identity. The comedy of mistakes becomes at the same time a story about appearances, social roles and the search for one's own identity. The music combines the lightness typical of a young Rossini with a theatrical pomp: daring ensembles, virtuoso arias and lively orchestration build the pace of the action, the tone of which is already set by the opening of the opera in a compact introduction illustration of the storm, later also used in Cyrulik of Seville.