In 1923, a short opera with few characters and a chamber orchestra was commissioned to Conrado del Campo (1878-1953) – a composer, conductor and first violin in the Teatro Real de Madrid orchestra. The commission was made by the Belgian company Ottein-Crabbé, managed by baritone Armand Crabbé (1833-1947) and his soprano wife Ángeles Ottein (1895-1981). Conrado del Campo entrusted Tomas Borrás with the writing of the libretto.

They both settled on a 18th-century style of opera – with a Venetian setting and references to the Commedia dell’Arte. They might not have been aware of Manuel de Falla’s project El Retablo de maese Pedro, which was staged in Paris in June of the same year (1923). For the most part, the two works share the same desire to revive the Classical tradition, on both musical and scenic levels. They do so, however, with an avant-gardist perspective which grants a central role to puppets. The major difference between the two works lies in the fact that the singers and the puppets are separated in Falla’s, while in del Campo and Borrás’s opera singers and puppets play the same roles by turns.

The opera was staged with sceneries from Manuel Fontanals at the Teatro de la Comedia de Madrid, at the same time as Pergolesi’s La serva padrona. It was greatly praised by the general public. Critics were divided. The opera was played in Europe and Argentina and at the Teatro Real de Madrid in 1924 in King Alfonso XIII’s presence. It was also broadcast live several times between 1927 and 1931 by the Unión Radio – the music then being played by the radio’s orchestra. It was taken up again in 1934 at the Teatro Calderón. It seems to have passed into oblivion after this, despite an attempt (from 1935 to 1945) at staging an English version of the opera. The Second World War and Franco’s dictatorship prevented it from coming into existence.

The Fundación Juan March has archived part of Carrodo del Campo’s work. In 1990, it published a facsimile of the scores, exactly as they were handwritten by the composer. The opera was played again in 2015 with the help of the Fundación March at the Teatro de la Zarzuela. José Antonio Montaño conducted the orchestra. Tomás Muñoz, the director, removed the retable and made the actors and puppets play on the same stage.

The opera is made up of two tableaux. In the first, El Titetero (the puppeteer) invites the audience to watch the farce to come. In the second, he provides a brief summary of what has happened earlier and reveals the scheme that is being plotted by two characters – Doneta and la Tía (her aunt, who is played by a puppet with the baritone voice of le Titerero’s actor). The two women are planning to trick a third character – Lindísimo. All through the opera, the puppets are the singers’ doubles: a dialogue takes place between the two levels of the opera.

In the first scene, Doneta complains to the Tía about the wishes expressed in the testament of her very wealthy uncle – doctor Cerote. For her to receive her inheritance, he said she must marry a vain and elegant man: his nephew Lindísimo. Lindísimo does not wish to marry Doneta either, and he devises a plan to avoid marrying her. On their first encounter, he explains that don Cerote’s widow also died and that she had made modifications to his testament: Lindísimo will only receive his share of the inheritance if he does not marry Doneta. La Tía and Doneta are distraught, as they believe they have been disinherited.

After Titerero’s speech at the beginning of the second tableau, the Bridge of Sights appears in the hand-puppet booth. It is first crossed by Lindísimo’s puppet then, without his noticing it, by Doneta’s, who hides behind a venetian mask. In a lavish salon, Lindísimo writes notes that he then distributes in town: he asks to meet with the most beautiful woman in Venice. Doneta finds one of these notes. She follows the Tía’s advice, puts on a mask and goes meet Lindísimo. They both engage in a game of seduction after which Lindísimo succumbs to Doneta’s advances and proposes to her. Doneta removes her mask and, despite being taken by surprise, Lindísimo accepts this outcome.

In the end, le Titerero asks the following question: “What is best in love? Knowledge, innocence or experience?”. The three characters reply in unison: “The most charming one is the one wknows the most”. The libretto ends with an unspoken sentence, which can only be discovered upon on reading it: “And we are almost certain that once this little comedy is finished, they will marry, and she will cheat on him.”