This score is somewhere between operetta and opera, even spoofing elements of grand opera: infidelity, murder, and irate conflict between husbands and lovers. In some ways it's reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan—the text and plot emphasize the absurd, but the music is written to charm as much as to parody, frequently sprouting into an old-fashioned lyricism that critics have dismissed (with justice) as being derivative. In fact, even beginning music students could make an instructive game of "spot the influence" out of nearly every passage in the score. But in a sense, these criticisms are unfair, for Menotti did not aspire to break new ground with this work, but to provide a light opera, following a standard formula, that would provide some pleasing tunes and a few laughs. The opera was written to an Italian-language libretto but first performed in English, and is performed about equally frequently in each language.

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