Opera Buffa in Vienna

In 18th century Europe, the ever-abstemious opera seria enjoyed great popularity as a form of entertainment that could be counted upon to include a mythological or heroic plot about the escapades of Greek gods, an Italian libretto, and a formal musical scheme of recitatives and arias. Eventually, however, theatergoers tired of these otherworldly affairs and became more interested in realistic stories of fellow mortals to which they could more easily relate. As early as 1752, audiences were demanding a form of theater that they would be able to identify with, rather than wonder at (Ford 1991). Operas of this sort were named opera buffas, or opera comiques, and they transformed stoic, mythological operas into comic, plausible operas, which became immensely popular during the second half of the 18th century, despite noteworthy criticism.

Opera buffa, unlike its competitor opera seria, is a humorous form of entertainment that portrays its characters as real people who might truly exist within an average society. While opera seria concentrates on the innate, opera buffa's materialist drama came from empty subjects who were then molded by their circumstances to be both realistic and entertaining (Ford 1991). Opera buffa composers, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, utilized character positions such as composers, judges, lawyers, policemen, impresarios, librettists, performers, tax collectors, and doctors in their storylines (Webster, 1997). Most of these characters were given little or no credibility. The opera buffas were composed about such common situations as adultery, unrequited love, arranged marriage, etc. Unlike opera serias, whose main characters were often such mythic creatures as Zeus and Daphne, opera buffas told everyday stories about everyday people. Opera serias dealt with extremely idealized characters designed to make the plots run smoothly, while opera buffas dealt with characters, settings, and situations that were recognizably based on contemporary life, and were not designed to run smoothly- quite the contrary, in fact.

Opera buffas, generally written in ABA'B' form, had many characteristics that were foreign to opera seria (Gianturco, 1981). For example, a typical opera buffa may have had as many as thirty consecutive productions with no two being exactly alike. In fact, many significant changes were often made between each show. Old works were often retitled to encourage new spectators, minor characters were added and dropped constantly, major characters were renamed at whim, replacement singers were allowed to substitute their own arias for originals, and new songs were added to the production at will. Overall, it seems that many of the productions were quite unorganized and unpredictable. Although librettos from many of the original opera buffas still exist, most of them do not fully match the surviving scores (Hunter, 1999). Another difference between opera seria and opera buffas was that the latter were far less expensive to put on than their competitors, which made them an attractive enterprise in that period of financial instability (Brophy, 1964).

Concerning the musical differences between the two forms of opera, there is some dispute about whether or not each type of opera has its own particular style of music. In an attempt to distinguish between the two styles, 18th century writers Johann Adolf Scheibe and Ernst Ludwig Gerber established three divisions of music: high, middle, and low musical styles. The divisions' representations are quite comparable to the representations of the three class levels of society, being high (clergy and nobility), middle (bourgeois), and low (peasant). High musical style is associated with "all great, exalted, dreadful feelings and violent passions, such as magnanimity, majesty, power, magnificence, pride, astonishment, anger, fear, madness, revenge, and doubt."

Middle musical style is associated with "softer, milder feelings, such as love, calmness, satisfaction, cheerfulness, and joy, and is ingenious, pleasant, and flowing, designed to please rather than excite or to induce reflection." Low musical style is associated with "what is more popular and obvious than genteel, more trifling and merry than clever, and particularly everything that pertains to caricature and comedy, avoiding all clever elaborations, permitting no extensions, and representative of nature in its simplest form." It was asserted by many that high musical style was that of the opera seria, and low musical style was that of the opera buffa. However, many artists found this imaginary distinction to be far less tidy than it seemed. Both opera seria and opera buffa constantly utilized musical styles that were supposedly indigenous to the other. Leopold Mozart implored his son to compose a particular opera seria in a lighter style than normal to ensure the success of his serious opera. Wolfgang retorted:

Do you think then that I should write a comic opera like a serious one? However little playfulness there should be in an opera seria, and however much of the learned and reasonable, just so little of the learned must there be in an opera buffa, and so much more of the playful and comic…I can't help it if in an opera seria people wish to have comic music as well.

Mozart's protests suggest the need for some reconciliation between the styles, but it was never achieved. There has still been no compromise between the opposing parties, and no particular musical style has been assigned to either genre (Webster, 1997).

Opera buffa arrived in Vienna in 1762, which was many years after it had already premiered in other European countries. The reason for its tardiness was that, aside from occasional visits from traveling comic theater companies, the two Viennese theaters lacked the human resources to put on a complete opera buffa. This changed only when a handful of accomplished comic artists, including Giuseppe Scarlatti and Giacomo Maso, brought their talents to Vienna. However, opera buffa did not originate as its own style of performance. Rather, it came from opera seria. Opera serias were so serious, passionate, and musically difficult, that short, one-act comical reality scenes were presented between the acts of the serious opera. The humorous sketches were so popular that they were eventually developed into consecutive acts of a single comedy, and were performed apart from the opera seria (Gianturco, 1981). The establishment of opera buffa as a distinct genre is generally agreed to have occurred in 1761, as that is the year that Nicola Logrosano and Nicola Piccinni's Buona Figliola was very well received in Rome. Opera buffa was performed in Vienna from approximately 1770-1790 (Hunter 1999).

Opera buffa was popular for many reasons. Audiences enjoyed the social, predictable plot patterns the works offered, as they were invariably simple to comprehend. They also enjoyed the novelty and humor of a plot based on happiness and pleasure, rather than sadness and grieving. In addition, since opera buffas were usually performed and attended multiple times, they became very familiar to their audiences. The fact that many libretti were based on works that were famous before they became operas also reinforced their familiarity (Hunter, 1999). As the opening pages in most librettos imply the general direction in which the plot is headed, the beginnings of most buffa arias suggested, by means of the songs or circumstances, where the plot was going. The ease of following and understanding the storylines was very attractive to many theater patrons (Hunter, 1999).

However, not all opera fans were excited at the advent of opera buffa as its own genre. Ludwig Koch complained
Ever since buffoon ariettas began to take on the broad scale from of the arias of serious opera, the serious arias began to lose their true value. In general, good sense will reject the style of the comic arietta laid out in the form of the serious aria, because what buffoon can express effectively his humorous ideas with many explanations and repetitions (Ford 1991).

Koch was not alone in his disapproval of opera buffa, and many agreed that it was nothing more than a compilation of "buffoon ariettas." Fortunately, that opinion did not prevail, and opera buffa went on to flourish without their approval.
Since opera buffa faced a more difficult hurdle in earning esteem with the theater patrons of Vienna than did opera seria, it had very limited resources when compared with opera seria. However, it thrived on its deficiencies. Its unfortunate lack of financial support caused a significant lack of theatrical props and equipment, which inadvertently focused all attention on the intrinsic qualities of its drama and music. Gluck's librettist, Algarotti, attributed the concentration on 'expression' in opera buffa to the impossibility the masters found of indulging their own fancy in a wanton display of all the secrets of their art and the manifold treasures of musical knowledge, from which ostentatious prodigality they were luckily prevented by the very limited abilities of their singers. Wherefore, in their own despite, they found themselves obliged to cultivate simplicity and follow nature. Whatever may have been the cause, this style soon obtained the vogue and triumphed over every other although called plebeian (Ford, 1991).

The theater's limitations may have been the very thing that drove it to success. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was likely the composer who impacted the genre of the opera buffa most immeasurably. Author Brigid Brophy substantiates this statement with her assertion that Mozart's genius, celebrated though it was, is an innovative genius that was "unnoticed in both his time and in ours. She goes on to say that the situation has improved slightly, as serious musicians have now outstripped popular tastes and "recognized Mozart not only as the operatic composer, but as the composer- perhaps as the artist (Brophy, 1964)." She further comments that Mozart's muse dictated his operatic works so furiously to him that Mozart had no time to be a genius- only to write works of genius. "Mozart always achieves perfection of design in his immediate musical material, and usually in the operatic scheme as a whole." It was Mozart's own assertion that he would rather write operas than any other genre of work (Brophy, 1964).

In agreement with his son, Leopold Mozart wanted his son to explore the genre that would best launch his career, as he confirmed in a letter to his friend Lorenz Hagenauer in Salzburg: "Is not the reputation to have written an opera for the Viennese theater the best way to improve one's standing not only in Germany, but also in Italy?" Soon thereafter, Leopold decided that Wolfgang should compose a comedy for Vienna. Mozart composed La Finta Semplice, and opera buffa in three acts, for the Viennese theater. When it was finished, its opening was delayed many times. Leopold jumped to blame everyone he thought was jealous of Mozart, which caused antagonism and doubt that Mozart really composed the opera at all. Finally, unsatisfied with the lack of reception in Vienna, and told that it would be better if the opera did not premiere in a city that had only lukewarm feelings for the music, the Mozarts left Vienna. The opera premiered on an improvised stage in the archbishop's palace in Salzburg on May 1, 1769, thereby launching young Mozart's career in opera buffa.

Opera buffa demonstrated its significance as a genre by heavily impacting many lives and changing the characterization of opera forever. It created a second face of opera, one more dynamic, entertaining, and comprehensible than the first, and left its mark on theater forever.

Bibliography

1. Brophy, Brigid. Mozart the Dramatist. CO Harcourt, Brace, and World Inc. New York, 1964.

2. Ford, Charles. Cosi? Sexual Politics in Mozart's Operas. CO Manchester University Press, New York, 1991.

3. Gianturco, Carolyn. Mozart's Early Operas. CO Carolyn Gianturco, London, 1981.

4. Hunter, Mary. The Culture of Opera Buffa in Mozart's Vienna. CO Princeton University Press, 1999.

5. Pasatieri, Thomas. La Divina: Opera Buffa in one act. CO Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, New York, 1966.

6. Pasatieri, Thomas. Signor Deluso: Opera Buffa in one act. CO Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, New York, 1974.

7. Opera Buffa in Mozart's Vienna. Ed. Mary Hunter and James Webster. CO Cambridge University Press, UK, 1997.