Opera's Early Developments

            Intermezzi originally were short (usually comic) scenes performed between acts of theatrical productions. The Oxford text makes no mention of this, but I imagine that the primary purpose of such an entertainment was allowing time for scene and costume changes to take place behind a closed curtain where the audience was still being entertained. Eventually the popularity of Intermezzi began to rival that of original productions of Opera Seria and they began to be longer taking on an almost parallel relationship with the primary opera until they finally became detached completely. When the detachment finally happened, the term Opera Buffa was coined and used to describe this new genre.

            One of the most famous composers of Intermezzi and Buffa was the young Giovanni Battista Pergolesi who was responsible for the hugely successful (although not initially) La Serva Padrona first performed in 1733. Bauman writes: “Not much noted at the time, it later gained national and international recognition as a stylish exemplar of a new comic manner.”  La Serva Padrona is the story of a servant girl (Serpina) who tricks her master into proposing marriage to her by having another servant dress in the garb of a soldier and ask for her (Serpina’s) hand. The master (Umberto) does genuinely love Serpina, but it is more the demand of a dowery from the false soldier that makes him keen to marry. When it is found out that the scheme was the work of Serpina, the story ends happily with no further incident. It is easy to imagine this kind of handsome plot line working very well for individuals who expected to see entertaining theatre as an escape. The author later notes that because Intermezzi such as the works by Pergolesi were becoming largely independent of Opera Seria, ballets were more frequent to in-front-of-curtain-performances by about 1750.

            The story of Pergolesi is however; a tragic one.  According to the Catholic Encyclopedia online (www.newadvent.org) Pergolesi was born in 1710 in Naples where he was reported to be sickly child. He showed a great aptitude for composing and worked on a number of religious pieces as well as Opera Seria and Intermezzi. He was employed by a viceroy and served as Maestro di Capella in the court. He died at age 26 of consumption not ever truly enjoying the success of his most famous work La Serva Padrona. His setting of Sabat Mater is an incredibly lovely work full of heartbreaking dissonance and very articulate writing for strings.