May 29 2009
Opera Buffa – Between Baroque and Classical Music
In 1733 during empress of Habsburg celebrated her birthday. All cities and towns belonging to the vast empire launched their festivities in her honor. In Naples the festivities program included opera Proud Prisoner created by brilliant Italian opera composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi on a libretto written by Gennaro Antonio Federico.
As an intermezzo a rather smaller comic opera Servant Mistress was included as well. It went on for only 45 minutes and was performed between the acts of the Proud Prisoner to entertain the audience. Servant Mistress or in Italian “La serva padrona” was written in the genre of opera buffa which has its roots in the improvisatory commedia dell’arte.
Well, “Proud Prisoner” miserably failed. Even today it does not exist in today’s opera repertoire. However, its intermezzo became huge success and wrote its name into the history of opera. Pergolesi separated it from its bigger brother and made it an opera in its own name that enjoyed fame throughout Europe for years after its premiere.
“La serva padrona” was appealing to people of different European nations because of its characters who motives were easy to understand. Audiences enjoyed the tricks of the cunning maid Serpina who felt that she was the mistress of the household and tricksed her aging master Uberto into marrying her.
The importance of this comic opera is significant. Modern specialists consider it the quintessential piece that bridges the gap from the Baroque to the Classical opera period.