La serva padrona

In early September 1733 the principal Neapolitan theatre, San Bartolomeo, presented Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s opera Il prigionier superbo (“The Proud Prisoner”). The lavish, hours-long performance, given in honour of the recent birthday of Empress Elisabeth Christine, consort of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, was interrupted by long intermissions during which the sets were changed and the audience took its rest. Some spectators preferred to remain in the hall, and for them, between the acts, an intermezzo (intermedius – “in between”) was performed: La serva padrona (“The Maid Turned Mistress”).
The tradition of alternating tragic acts with comic interludes is an ancient one – far older than opera itself. In early eighteenth-century Naples the practice of inserting short intermezzi became firmly established in performances of opera seria. Pergolesi was not the first to use the form, but at twenty-three he created a musical comedy that became the model of its kind and achieved pan-European fame. La serva padrona soon detached itself from Il prigionier superbo and began an independent life. Its compact cast and minimal staging requirements made the forty-minute work – set to a libretto probably by Gennaro Antonio Federico – an ideal touring piece for Italian companies. The opera quickly spread across Europe; in Paris it provoked the famous “Querelle des Bouffons”, a heated debate between supporters of the grand, traditional French style and advocates of the new, popular Italian manner. In Russia La serva padrona was first performed in 1773 – initially at Smolny Institute by the noble young ladies themselves, and later at the Hermitage Theatre in St Petersburg.
The characters of La serva padrona derive from the stock masks of Italy’s commedia dell’arte, where clever and resourceful maids had long been turning the heads of gullible old men. The opera consists of two parts (sometimes referred to as the first and second intermezzi), both set in the same dressing room. The maid Serpina (soprano), aided by the mute servant Vespone, outwits her master Uberto (buffo bass). The two principals share five arias, with duets concluding each part. The vocal numbers alternate with recitativi secco, accompanied only by harpsichord. What Pergolesi employed in one of the earliest opere buffe would later become staples of musical comedy: the bass part abounds in patter, comic leaps, and deliberate “sticking” on notes and phrases, while the soprano part features simple, folk-like melodies, dance rhythms, and at times exaggerated expression that playfully parodies opera seria.
“Ah, gioia, gioia, gioia, gioia!” (“Ah, joy, joy, joy, joy!”) exclaims the duped yet delighted Uberto in the finale. Cheerful, brisk and full of wit, La serva padrona itself remains a delightful source of joy and festive spirit. Khristina Batyushina