Matilde di Shabran

The story is set in and around a castle in Spain belonging to the violent and misogynistic Corradino (‘Iron Heart’).

Engraved on the ceiling are two menacing warnings:

‘Those who enter uninvited will have their heads split open’

and

‘Those who dare to disturb the peace will die of hunger and thirst’.

A group of peasants, led by Egoldo, arrive at the castle with gifts of fruit and vegetables for Corradino; the threatening inscriptions,along with the descriptions by Ginardo the tower keeper and the physician Aliprando of Corradino’s ferocity quickly scare them away.

Next to arrive at the castle is Isidoro, a poet. He and his guitar have travelled from Naples to Spain in search of the steady employment a patron can offer him.

Before Ginardo can warn him off, Corradino storms down from the ramparts determined to kill Isidoro.

Aliprando arrives in time to prevent Isidoro’s death, but not his incarceration as a suspected spy or assassin.

Aliprando announces that Matilde di Shabran is seeking permission to enter the castle.

Her late father was a courageous warrior, and in recognition of this Corradino accedes to her request, provided she keeps clear of him.

Next, he summons Edoardo, the imprisoned son of his enemy Raimondo, to be brought before him.

The young man still refuses to acknowledge his defeat in battle and stings Corradino’s pride by calling him a tyrant.

Nevertheless, Corradino has Edoardo’s chains removed: he will rely on his word as a gentleman to remain within the castle until he has conceded Corradino’s victory over him.

Matilde arrives in the castledetermined to make Corradino fall in love with her.

She is confident that she will conquer Corradino’s heart, Aliprando less so, despite Matilde’s obvious charms.

He tells Matilde that Corradino thinks only of war and violence, yet at the smallest sign of any illness runs to his doctor.

Ginardo warns them of the arrival of the Contessa d’Arco, betrothed to Corradino as a result of a peace treaty: Corradino has promised her family he will marry no other woman, but actually has no intention of even marrying her.

She is a determined and formidable rival who intends to have Matilde run off the premises.

The two women meet and noisily insult each other, thus drawing the attention of Corradino, who is stunned both by Matilde’s looks and the way in which she stands up to him.

The new emotions he experiences convince him he must be ill. It is clearly now open war between Matilde and the Contessa.

Aliprando counsels Corradino that his strange symptoms are not an illness, but love, the only disease without a cure.

Given that this new disease started only when Isidoro arrived at the castle, Corradino is convinced that he is really the victim of the newcomer’s magic and summons Isidoro from the dungeons to release him from the spell.

Isidoro (utterly baffled at being accused of necromancy) is about to be killed yet again, when he is saved by the appearance of Matilde.

Her manipulation of Corradino makes the warrior even more emotionally confused. The conquerer appears to have been conquered.

Rodrigo, captain of the guard, lines his men up for battle: Raimondo and his troops are approaching in search of Edoardo.

Corradino and his men prepare to leave the castle, while Isidoro (now self-appointed as court poet) is ready to follow to celebrate in verse the battle and Corradino’s expected success.

When Matilde shows some sympathy for Edoardo, Corradino becomes irrationally jealous – a fact that does not escape the Contessa’s notice.

Corradino’s army has routed that of Raimondo.

Isidoro has fled from the battle scene and in a secluded spot is busy writing down his military memoirs, imaginatively – but falsely – with himself as the hero.

When soldiers challenge the veracity of his account, he claims it to be a victory of poetry over fact.

Meanwhile, Raimondo is wandering in the woods and lamenting the loss of his son; Edoardo is doing likewise for his father, having been helped to escape by Matilde (or so he believes).

Father and son joyfully meet. Corradino finds them both and challenges Raimondo to fight, but he is furious to hear from Edoardo of his betrayal – as he thinks – by Matilde.

Back in the castle, the outcome of the battle is keenly awaited.

The Contessa congratulates herself that it was she who bribed the prison guards into releasing Edoardo, knowing that the blame would fall on Matilde.

A drum roll announces the return of Corradino.