Compare and Contrast Opera Buffa and Opera Seria

Compare and contrast opera buffa and opera seria. How do they differ?
How are they
similar? Address plots, types of characters, and the music they contain, citing at least
one example of each (title and composer).
We can find many differences between Opera Buffa and Opera Seria.
To begin with, Opera Seria was a genre that prevailed in Europe, especially in Italy,
between the years 1720 and 1770 approximately, with the exception of France, which
developed its own style of opera: le opere comiqué. “The Italian Opera Seria was given
its standard formulation by the Italian poet Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)” (Donald J.
Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, Fourth Edition, p. 566).
Serious Opera was a term that referred to the noble and serious. He had an elegant and
refined character, always with a libretto in Italian. The main drama of this type of Opera is
mythological themes, as well as aristocratic and chivalric love affairs, with solemn and
bombastic scenes. We find characters, such as the pair of lovers, who always find
opposition from some villain or divine force. In most cases, the outcome of the drama is
carried out with some heroic act or the resignation of a character, so it doesn't always
have a happy ending.
This type of Opera is based on the baroque opera, with a structure of A -B -A, using the
aria da capo. To begin, the first theme is presented, then a second theme is presented,
and finally, the first theme is repeated, but this time with variations in the sung part.
Generally, this type of opera begins with an overture, followed by three acts, which are
divided into recitatives, arias, and duos where the action was developed in recitatives.
There were very few duets and very little choir participation.
In the serious opera, the role of the orchestra was limited only to accompanying the
singers and did not have much participation.
A great example of Serious Opera is Alcina by Georg Friedrich Händel, which tells the story
of Alcina who with her magical powers has bewitched her lover Ruggiero on an island,
who is not allowed to return to his land, where his fiancee Bradamante awaits him.
On the other hand, is the Opera Buffa or comic that in opposition to the serious Opera,
dealt with mundane or popular themes, which on many occasions turned out to be a
parody of the serious opera. The opera buffa was no longer aimed at an aristocratic
audience, but at more popular sectors of the population. The characters in the drama are
bourgeois and ordinary townspeople, such as counts and their servants. In most cases, the
endings were happy, since they did not depend on some divinity, but rather on reality.
Unlike the Opera Seria, the libretto or text was not always in the Italian language, but
rather in the language of the country in which this work was composed and musically it
tended to highlight the national musical language.
Over the years and towards the nineteenth century, the characteristics of the Opera Buffa
was gaining great importance and influence in the operatic genre, fulfilling a great role in
the subsequent development of musical nationalism during the Romantic period.
It is also important to highlight a great achievement of the Comic Opera was expanding
the vocal range of the bass. '' One of the achievements of Italian comic opera was its
exploitation of the possibilities of the bass voice, either ins straight comedy or in
burlesque of other styles’’ (Donald J. Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western
Music, Fourth Edition, p. 574)
A great example of Opera Buffa is The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, which is an
opera in two acts, which tells the story of a couple in love between a count and a young
orphan.
Another example that serves to demonstrate the great influence of this genre on the
composers of the period was The Wedding of Figaro by W.A. Mozart, who wrote this
opera buffa on a libretto in Italian by Lorenzo da Ponte, premiered in Vienna in 1786,
under the direction of Mozart himself.
-This short essay is based on reading the book A history of Western Music by Donald J.
Grout and Claude V. Palisca, Fourth Edition, Chapter 13.

Compare and Contrast Opera Buffa and Opera Seria

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Compare and Contrast Opera Buffa and Opera Seria

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Compare and contrast opera buffa and opera seria. How do they differ?

How are they

one example of each (title and composer).

have a happy ending.

singers and did not have much participation.

tended to highlight the national musical language.

the subsequent development of musical nationalism during the Romantic period.

Music, Fourth Edition, p. 574)

opera buffa on a libretto in Italian by Lorenzo da Ponte, premiered in Vienna in 1786,

under the direction of Mozart himself.

Grout and Claude V. Palisca, Fourth Edition, Chapter 13.

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