Candaule

In a glittering Milanese salon, a flamboyant nobleman, the baron of Ruoppolo, finds himself tangled in a lively wager with a young Sicilian painter, Attilio Carminati. Surrounded by lawyers, marquises and curious guests, the baron boasts of his exotic possessions, only to be challenged when Carminati daringly claims he can prove his own subject—an unseen “most beautiful person”—surpasses the baron’s prized companion. The conversation crackles with wit, sarcasm and the intoxicating buzz of wine, turning a simple social gathering into a theatrical showdown.

As the stakes rise, the assembled crowd—servants, aristocrats and the baron’s own confidants—becomes both judge and audience to a contest that promises to expose vanity, pride, and the absurd lengths to which the elite will go for a point. The scene is a vivid portrait of 19th‑century Italian high society, where humor masks deeper questions about beauty, reputation, and the thin line between confidence and folly. Listeners will be drawn into the charged atmosphere, eager to see how this flamboyant challenge unfolds.