BIZET

DON PROCOPIO

Old Andronico obviously lacks for nothing that money can provide. Why then is he so eager to amass even greater piles of it that he is willing to sacrifice the happiness of his beautiful, charming niece and ward by marrying her off to an equally rich old fossil like Don Procopio? Her sensible Aunt Euphemia will have none of it:

EUPHEMIA:

Others say, as well as I, sir,

You’re a money-grubbing miser.

Your own niece you have sold

For a paltry pot of gold . . .

ANDRONICO:

She’ll do as I proposed;

The subject now is closed.

The man that I’ve selected

Is rich and well-connected,

As fit and fine a fellow

As any man alive.

A man mature and mellow,

He could pass for sixty five . . .

Bettina, the endangered niece, finds consolation in a letter from her beloved Odoardo:

“My love they would force me to deny;

They tear my heart asunder.

As long as stars adorn the sky

I’ll never cry surrender . . .

In vain do they connive

To turn me false and flighty;

The bread that keeps my soul alive

Comes from Love Almighty! . . .”

Her brother Ernesto has some practical advice that just might solve the problem:

The husband they offer

Has one ruling passion --

The love of his life

Is the gold to be got.

The role you must play

Is the lady of fashion

Who squanders a fortune

On heaven knows what.

Confess to a weakness

For shopping and spending,

A quest never ending

For pastimes and thrills,

A passion for parties,

For cards and for horses --

His function, of course, is

To settle the bills.

In turn, the old miser,

Bewildered but wiser,

Will head for the hills.

Bettina is all enthusiasm:

Oh, more and more I like the plan!

It calls for cool and cunning.

With sleight of hand mislead the man

And send the rascal running.

Conspirators, the three of us,

Covert and undercover,

Determined and unscrupulous,

Will stalk the would-be lover . . .

Ernesto describes to Don Procopio his bride in the most glowing terms:

A smooth and even temper,

In May as in December;

A pearl of greater value

Than stock at ten per cent . . .