Opera buffa
Comic Italian opera.
What it means
Opera buffa is the comic Italian opera of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It stands opposite opera seria, the serious opera with mythological and historical subjects. Its characters come from everyday life — servants, townspeople, tradespeople —, its language is more agile, its plot is built on entanglement and resolution. It arose from the comic interludes played between the acts of serious operas.
Musical use
Musically characteristic are fast, syllable-rich vocal lines with many note repetitions, short and catchy themes, and a speech-like performance. The ensemble has particular importance: in the act finale, ever more characters come together, the music runs on without interruption, the tempo picks up, and the entanglement comes to a head — a layout that belongs among the most effective in operatic history. The role types are pronounced, with the bass buffo as the core figure. From opera buffa, further forms of comic musical theatre develop in the nineteenth century.
Performance practice
Practise fast text passages first spoken in rhythm; clarity arises from the consonants. In ensembles, keep the tempo absolutely stable, because otherwise they fall apart — ensemble coordination here takes precedence over individual shaping. Clarify scenic action and musical entries together, since the comedy lives from timing. Watch the balance with the orchestra in fast passages. Plan your strength, because the finales stand at the end of the acts and yet demand full agility.
Bear in mind that the ensembles form the actual core of the genre: there the plot is driven forward while several characters sing at once, and the music runs on without interruption. Rehearse them early and separately, because they are hardest to hold together. Watch the secco recitative: it carries the plot and must come quickly and naturally in speech rhythm. The parlando of the buffo parts, for instance in Rossini, demands precise consonants at a high tempo. The large act finales with many people singing at once belong among the most difficult passages and need rehearsal time of their own.
Clarify whether recitatives are cut, and then check whether the plot remains intelligible.