ABSTRACT
In L'arbore di Diana, Diana, the goddess of chastity, lives with her three nymphs on a beautiful island. She regularly tests their chastity by having them pass beneath a magic apple tree which either emits exquisite sound, for the virtuous, or drops black apples, on the guilty. Amore, incensed by this invention, undertakes to make Diana fall in love. He enters her garden in the form of a shepherdess, engages three youths to seduce the nymphs, gives Endimione one of his magic arrows with which to wound Diana, and frustrates Dianas rule at every turn. The raging Diana repeatedly tries to drive out the intruders but eventually yields to Endimione. However else the 1813 and 1814 productions of L'arbore di Diana and Cosi fan tutte may be understood, it is clear that both librettos were interpreted in ways that made sense to their audiences and that involved the explanation of the pastoral elements.
