Intermède (also intermédie, intramède, entremets) is a
French term for a musical or theatrical performance involving song and dance, also an 18th-century opera genre.
The context in which the 'intermède' was performed has changed over time. During the 16th century they were court entertainments in which
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
was an important element. The intermède was sometimes given between the acts of spoken plays, especially in the 17th century when they were performed with the works of
Pierre Corneille and
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...
.
During the
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
, the term was used for one-act Italian operas, as performed in 18th-century
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, either in the original language or in French translation (such as ''La servante maîtresse'', the French version of
Pergolesi's ''
La serva padrona
''La serva padrona'', or ''The Maid Turned Mistress'', is a 1733 intermezzo by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) to a libretto by Gennaro Federico, after the play by Jacopo Angello Nelli. It is some 40 minutes long, in two parts without o ...
''), but also for original French works of similar style in one or two acts, with or without spoken dialogue. During the course of the century, the intermède gradually disappeared as it was developed and transformed into the
opéra comique.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the term was occasionally used, usually anachronistically, by opera composers, but also as a term in relation to instrumental music.
Sources
*Bartlet, M Elizabeth C: ''Intermède'' in 'The
New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Intermede
Opera genres
Opera terminology