A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Opera Buffa

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A Dictionary of Music and Musicians
edited by George Grove

Opera Buffa

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From volume 2 of the work.

1767424A Dictionary of Music and Musicians — Opera Buffa

OPERA BUFFA. An Italian Opera, of light and playful character, in which the Dialogue is carried on in Recitativo secco, interposed between the Airs, Duets, and Choruses, which form the chief attraction of the piece. The subject of the Opera Bufia is always more or less comic, and not unfrequently extravagantly so. The finest examples extant are, Cimarosa's 'Il Matrimonio segreto,' Mozart's 'Così fan tutte,' and Rossini's 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia.' [See Opera, 10th, 12th, and 18th Periods, vol. ii. pp. 513, 516, and 524. Also Comic Opera.]

[ W. S. R. ]