La farsa amorosa is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts by Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai

Riccardo Zandonai

Riccardo Zandonai was an Italian composer.-Biography:Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, then part of Austria–Hungary....

.

The opera is on a comic subject, and was an attempt to revitalize the opera buffa

Opera buffa

Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...

tradition which flourished in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The story is based on the novel El Sombrero de Tres Picos

El Sombrero de Tres Picos

The Three-Cornered Hat is a ballet composed by Manuel de Falla, commissioned in its development by Sergei Diaghilev and performed in its completed form in 1919....

(The Three-cornered Hat), (1874) by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, which was the basis of Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....

's ballet The Three Cornered Hat and Hugo Wolf

Hugo Wolf

Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...

's opera Der Corregidor

Der Corregidor

Der Corregidor is a comic opera by Hugo Wolf. The libretto was written by Rosa Mayreder-Obermayer, based on the short novel by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón.-Composition history:...

. The libretto by Zandonai's frequent collaborator Arturo Rossato relocates the action to Lombardy but retains Spanish names. The cast uniquely includes two love-lorn donkeys, Ciccio and Checca.

Performance history

La farsa amorosa, which turned out to be the composer's last completed opera, premiered on February 22, 1933 at the Teatro dell'Opera

Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast 22 February 1933 (Conductor: Riccardo Zandonai)
Don Ferrante	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Carmelo Maugeri
Donna Mercedes	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Sara Ungaro
Frulla	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Alessio De Paolis Alessio De Paolis Alessio De Paolis was an Italian operatic tenor who specialized in character roles. He was a prominent member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where he sang from 1938 to 1964. At the Met De Paolis performed 51 different roles, primarily in the Italian and French repertoires, in a...
Giacomino	tenor	Adelio Zagonara
Lucia	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Mafalda Favero Mafalda Favero Mafalda Favero was an Italian operatic soprano.Mafalda Favero was born in Portomaggiore, near Ferrara. When she was 17, she started studying with Alessandro Vezzani at the Conservatory in Bologna and attracted the notice of Franco Alfano...
Orsola	mezzo-soprano	Agnese Dubbini
Renzo	tenor	Nino Bertelli
Spingarda	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Salvatore Baccaloni Salvatore Baccaloni Salvatore Baccaloni was an Italian operatic bass, often regarded as the greatest buffo artist of the 20th century.- Life and career :Baccaloni was born in Rome...