Dramma giocoso

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Dramma giocoso

Dramma giocoso (literally: 'jocular drama'; plural: drammi giocosi) is the name of a genre of opera common in the mid-18th century. The term is a contraction of "dramma (giocoso) per musica" and is essentially a description of the text rather than the opera as a whole. The genre developed in the Neapolitan opera tradition, mainly through the work of the playwright Carlo Goldoni

Carlo Goldoni

Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was a celebrated Republic of Venice playwright and librettist, whom critics today rank among the European theatre's greatest authors....
in Venice

Venice

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Carlo Goldoni

Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was a celebrated Republic of Venice playwright and librettist, whom critics today rank among the European theatre's greatest authors....
in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
. Characteristic of drammi giocosi is the technique of a grand buffo scene as a dramatic climax at the end of an act

Act (theater)

An act is a division or unit of a drama. The number of acts in a production can range from one to five, depending on how a writer structures the outline of the story....
. Carlo Goldoni's texts always consisted of two long acts with extended finales, followed by a short third act.

Goldoni's texts were set by Baldassarre Galuppi

Baldassarre Galuppi

Baldassare Galuppi was an italian people composer from Venice, noted for his operas, and particularly opera buffa.He was born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Lagoon, and as a result, he became known as Il Buranello. His first attempt at opera, La fede nell'incostanza ossia gli amici rivali , was a spectacular failure, hav...
, Niccolò Piccinni

Niccolò Piccinni

Niccol? Piccinni was an Italy composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure, even to music lovers today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera ? particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa ? of his day....
and Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn was an Austrians composer. He was one of the most prominent composers of the classical music era, and is called by some the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet"....
, but the only works of this genre that are still frequently staged are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always...
's and Lorenzo da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte was an Republic of Venice libretto and poet....
's operas Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with Italian language libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered in the Estates Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787 in music....
from 1787 and Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte

Cos? fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte....
1790. However, Mozart entered these works in his catalogue as "opera buffa".