The prince Emilio is madly in love with the wife of a duke, Massimila Doni. She reciprocates but the love remains platonic. A misunderstanding will bring the prince into the arms of the singer Clara Tinti, the lover of the duke. How does the physical and spiritual love reconcile? What role does music play?

Balzac (1799-1850) visited Italy several times. "Massimila Doni," a small masterpiece of Human Comedy, is a hymn to love, to the atmosphere of Italian life, to the spontaneity of the inhabitants, to their love for spectacle and above all their passion for opera.