Portal:Opera/Selected picture/10
Credit: The Illustrated London News, 22 November 1845
The wedding of Don Cæsar and Maritana, in the original 1845 production of William Vincent Wallace's Maritana. Don Cæsar, facing execution, agrees to marry a mysterious woman (Maritana) in order to have what he sees as a more fitting death. However, the person who arranged this, Don José, has intercepted Don Cæsar's pardon, in order to use him as part of a scheme to change the unwitting Maritana from a mere peasant into the widow of a nobleman: the King has shown an interest in her, and he hopes that if faced with her at court every day, he will get enough evidence to convince the queen that her husband is unfaithful, and can thus convince the queen into an affair. However, a peasant boy, Lazarillo, that Don Cæsar had helped removes all the bullets from the firing squad's guns, and the plot begins to unravel, eventually resulting in a happy ending for Don Cæsar and Maritana, and the death of Don José.