1. The Piazetta in Venice
2. Pavilion in the Palace of Barataria (three months later)

• Gianetta, contadine, soprano
• Marco, gondolier, tenor
• Giuseppe, gondolier, baritone
• Tessa, contadine, mezzo-soprano
• The duchess, contralto
• The duke, baritone
• Luiz, his attendant, tenor
• Casilda, his daughter, soprano
• Don Alhambra, bass/baritone

Next to The Mikado, this is the most popular Gilbert & Sullivan opera. Gilbert must have been specially inspired while writing it. It is a stream of sublime choruses, soli, duets and ensembles, in elegant Italian or, here and there, Spanish style.

As a baby, the crown prince of Barataria was kidnapped and put in the charge of a Venetian gondolier who had a little boy of the same age. By now, the two boys are grown-up and married. One day, a certain Don Alhambra arrives and announces that one of them is king of Barataria. Because it is no longer clear which of the two was the kidnapped child, it is decided, for the time being, to put them on the throne together, until the prince’s former nurse has arrived to clear up the question of identity. The matter is further complicated when it appears that the baby prince was wedded to Casilda, daughter of the duke of Plaza-Toro; so one of the young men is an ordinary gondolier and the other is king – and a bigamist. After numerous comic developments the matter is solved in a way that is satisfactory to all parties.