Amelia Goes to the Ball is a one-act comic opera composed by Gian Carlo Menotti in 1936 upon his own libretto. Originally written in Italian and translated into English by George Mead, the work represents Menotti′s first successful opera. The première was held at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on April 1, 1937. It was immediately requested in many American and then European theaters. The opera arrived in Italy on April 4, 1938 at the Teatro Municipale in San Remo.The story takes place in an unspecified European city in the early twentieth century. Amelia, a young woman immersed in luxury, longs to attend the first ball of the season. Helped by her two maids, Amelia is feverishly preparing to go to the ball. Her husband, who has just discovered that she has been unfaithful, demands to know the name of the lover. In exchange for a promise to take her to the ball, Amelia confesses: the lover is the tenant upstairs. Discussions, threats and arguments between the three characters take place. Amelia, exasperated and impatient, as she wants to go to the ball, ends up stunning her husband by hitting him with a vase. Upon arrival of the police, Amelia blames the astonished lover for the incident and is thus able to pursue her sole purpose: to go to the ball. It is the gallant and flattered Chief of Police who will then accompany her.