She lost it

How many times have you seen a production of Le Nozze di Figaro and when it came time for Barbarina's Act IV aria, "L'ho perduta", you were perplexed by this girl who wanders out on stage singing a melancholic, mournful tune about having lost a pin? Well, that's because too many times the director isn't making it clear that backstage, Cherubino has been on the prowl and the subject of Barbarina's grief isn't a lost pin, but of her lost innocence. Only then does this lovely, mournful, arietta make complete sense. Bear in mind, as well, that Anna Gottlieb, the original Barbarina, turned twelve on May 1, 1786, the day that Figaro opened in Vienna.

I have lost it, woe is me!
Ah, who knows where it is?
I can’t find it. I have lost it.
Miserable little me etc.
And my cousin, and the boss
what will he say?

The following is from a production conducted by John Elliot Gardner at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, wtih Constanze Backes as the deflowered Barbarina.