Sylvia

SYNOPSIS

Overture and Act I scene 1
Now middle aged, tired of the world and its posturing, and in the belief that love is a thing of the past, Eros, the God of Love, has turned his back on mortals and immortals alike and retired to nature, assuming the disguise of a lowly gardener in the employ of the Count Guiccioli.

When the marital strife between the Count and his wife threatens to disrupt their anniversary celebration, and the Count's infidelities endanger the burgeoning love between Aminta and Sylvia, their servants, it is left to
Eros to reconcile their differences as he takes them on a fantasy journey in order to teach them a lesson about Love.

Act I scene 2
Diana, Goddess of the hunt, arrives in a moonlit grotto where she and her followers, chaste and virginal nymphs all, stop to refresh themselves after their evening's sport. When they discover a young man, Aminta, is watching
them, they are outraged and Diana strikes him blind for the offence.
Later one of the nymphs, Sylvia, returns to the grotto to comfort the youth, but she is abducted by the lecherous Orion, a hunter who roams the forests.
Aminta, powerless to help Sylvia, calls on Eros to aid him and sets off in pursuit.

Act II
Orion takes Sylvia to his cave and attempts to seduce her. Sylvia plays along with the coarse woodsman and shows him how to make wine. Orion takes to the new drink and soon falls into a drunken stupor. The sightless Aminta,
guided by Eros, finds Sylvia but the nymph, recalling her vows to Diana and ashamed of her night with Orion, cannot give herself to him and runs into the night. Aminta's journey is not yet at an end.


Act III
Outside a temple near the ocean, Diana's followers celebrate their goddess's divinity. Aminta, believing Sylvia has returned to her spiritual home, is seen among the ruins as a pirate ship carrying slave girls arrives. The pirates try to sell the women into Diana's service, but the nymphs are only interested in one, whom they recognise as their errant sister, Sylvia.
There being only one sentence for breaking Diana's vows; Sylvia pleads with the pirates not to sell her. Suddenly, recognising her voice, Aminta comes forward, and he and Sylvia are at last united. The young man's sight is restored to him by the pirate chief, who reveals himself to be Eros in disguise.

Orion arrives, furious at having been tricked by Sylvia, and the doors of the temple fly open as Diana appears. She contemptuously despatches Orion and is about to turn the full fury of her anger on Sylvia and Aminta, when Eros stills the steadily rising storm and restores order. With a gesture, the vision conjured up by Eros to instruct the lovelorn Sylvia and Aminta,
the loveless Contessa and the lecherous Count begins to fade, and as if waking from a dream the Guiccioli household realises the various follies of their misplaced affections.

DAVID BINTLEY