Perichole, La

In 18th-century Lima, a street singer called La Perichole and her lover Piquillo lead a miserable existence. The Viceroy Don Andres de Ribeira, who is attending a popular festival incognito, notices the young woman, exhausted by hunger, and offers to take her to Court. La Perichole, overwhelmed by poverty, finally accepts and leaves a touching farewell letter for Piquillo. But a lady of the Court has to be married, and the jilted lover is chosen by chance to be the complaisant husband of the viceroy's new favourite. Piquillo, perfectly drunk, marries his mistress without realising it. When he regains his lucidity, he can only denounce his perfidious mistress's betrayal with fury. To punish this outburst, he is thrown into the dungeon for "recalcitrant husbands". After a series of misunderstandings, he manages to escape with La Perichole, who has never stopped loving him.