Muette de Portici, La

Opera by Auber (libretto by Scribe and Delavigne), produced at the Paris Opéra on 29 February 1828. Carafa's Masaniello, on the same subject, had been produced at the Opéra-Comique two months earlier. Auber's work is often called Masaniello. The seduction of his sister Fenella inspires Masaniello to lead a peasants' revolt against the Spanish viceroy and his son Alphonse. Horrified by the waste of life, however, Masaniello shows mercy to the nobles and as a result is poisoned by his compatriots.