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Capriccio

Capriccio, set outside Paris in 1775, is a rare opera in that it is inconclusive. No tragic death or infinitely-durable marriage completes the story, but instead a debate on an unanswerable question: which is the greater art, words or music? The Countess herself tries to decide which of her two suitors, the poet or the composer, she should accept, and asks her brother the Count, who is in love with an actress, for advice. He and his love, Clairon, rehearse Olivier's play, which ends in a love sonnet. Olivier reveals that this is written for the Countess, but Flamand sets it to music and sings it, to Olivier's horror. Flamand also declares his love, and both will meet her the next day to hear her decision. At her birthday celebrations that evening, the Countess commissions an opera that will combine Flamand's music with Olivier's words, telling the events of that very afternoon. She dwells on the synchronicity of words and music, still unable to make a decision. Dinner is served, and the opera, equally undecided, comes to an end. 

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