[Franco Leoni]
L’ORACOLO
THE SAGE
Opera in one act by Franco Leoni, words by Camillo Zanoni, adapted from the play, "The Cat and the Cherub," by Chester Bailey Fernald. Produced, Covent Garden Theatre, London, June 28, 1905. Metropolitan Opera House, New York, February 4, 1915, with Scotti, as Chim-Fen; Didur, as Win-She; Botta, as Win-San-Lui; and Bori, as Ah-Joe.
Characters
| Win-She, a wise man, called the Sage | Baritone |
| Chim-Fen, an opium den proprietor | Baritone |
| Win-San-Lui, son of Win-She | Tenor |
| Hu-Tsin, a rich merchant | Bass |
| Hu-Chi, a child, son of Hu-Tsin | |
| Ah-Joe, niece of Hu-Tsin | Soprano |
| Hua-Qui, nurse of Hu-Chi | Contralto |
Four opium fiends, a policeman, an opium maniac, a soothsayer, distant voices, four vendors, Chinese men, women, and children.
Time—The present.
Place—Chinatown, San Francisco.
CHIM-FEN is about to close up his opium den. A man half crazed by the drug comes up its steps and slinks away.
Out of the house of the merchant Hu-Tsin comes Hua-Qui, the nurse of Hu-Tsin's son, Hu-Chi. Chim-Fen wants to marry the merchant's daughter Ah-Joe. The nurse is in league with him. She brings him a fan, upon which Ah-Joe's lover, San-Lui, son of the sage, Win-She, has written an avowal of love. Hua-Qui is jealous, because Chim-Fen is in love with Ah-Joe. Her jealousy annoys him. He threatens her and drives her away.