Haydn's work has long been remembered for its dramatic Sturm und Drang overture,[3] but the rest of the opera did not see print until H. C. Robbins Landon's 1976 edition (only available for rental).

Using the crudest of tools, Costanza is on the verge of completing an inscription on a rock next to her cave: "Abandoned by the traitor Gernando, Constanza finished her days on these strange shores.

Friendly traveler, unless you be a tiger, either avenge or pity…" Her young sister Silvia enters, rejoicing that a lost pet deer has returned, and asks why Costanza is unhappy, being on such a pleasant island far from the world wicked men she has often described, but cannot cheer her.

Silvia, alone, watches a ship arrive and runs to ask her sister what monster swims and flies at the same time.

He declares his intention to end his days on the island to Enrico; the latter decides he must be carried off by force for his own good, and instructs two sailors to lay an ambush by a stream.