Joseph Mazzinghi, The Favorite Overture to the Exile: The Exile

Mazzzinghi’s The Exile is a comic opera in three acts. The Exile was written in collaboration with Henry Bishop, a well-known British composer who wrote the choruses and additional music, and Frederick Reynolds, an English dramatist. Premiered on March 31, 1808, at Covent Garden, the opera would be performed a handful of times in London and theaters in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Set primarily in Siberia, the story focuses on Count Ulrick, a war hero wrongfully accused of treason and living in exile, and his daughter Alexina’s attempt to clear his name. In the beginning of the work, Ulrick is sick and miserable, unable to come to terms with his exile to the harsh Siberian desert. Alexina cannot bear to see her father suffer for a crime he did not commit and resolves to seek a pardon from the Empress in Moscow. On her journey to the Russian capital, she meets resistance from the brutal Russian weather and Alexina’s jilted ex-suitor, Welzian. Welzian pursues Alexina as she travels to Moscow in order to keep Ulrick in exile and force Alexina into marriage. Despite his best efforts, Welzian is thwarted at every turn by the mysterious Daran, a soldier from a foreign country who uses his cunning and physical might to protect Alexina. Ultimately, the Empress, moved by Alexina’s determination and love for her father, pardons Count Ulrick. Daran reveals himself as Alexina’s long-lost lover in disguise and asks for her hand in marriage. Daran and Alexina embrace, and all live happily ever after.