''La contadina in corte'' is an ''

opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') 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'', ''dramm ...

'' in two acts by

Antonio Sacchini Antonio Maria Gasparo Gioacchino Sacchini (14 June 1730 – 6 October 1786) was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Sacchini was born in Florence, but raised in Naples, where he received his musical education. He made a name for him ...

, first performed at the

Teatro Valle Teatro may refer to: * Theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific p ...

in Rome during the Carnival in 1765. The

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

was by Niccolò Tassi. It was a popular opera at the time of its first performance: by the 1780s it had been staged over 20 times in such diverse cities as Rome and Warsaw. Sacchini's original setting is an ''

intermezzo In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...

'' with four roles. There was a revival at the Teatro Verdi in

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

in 1991, conducted by Gabriele Catalucci and directed by Gianni Marras.

Roles

Recordings

Sacchini: ''La contadina in corte '' - Sassari Symphony Orchestra * Conductor: Gabriele Catalucci * Principal singers: Cinzia Forte, Susanna Rigacci, Ernesto Palacio, Giorgio Gatti * Recording date:? (published 1994) * Label: Bongiovanni - (CD)

References

* Mary Hunter: "La contadina in Corte", ''Grove Music Online'' ed L. Macy (Accessed 28 May 2007)
grovemusic.com
subscription access.
John A. Rice, "The Roman Intermezzo and Sacchini's ''La contadina in corte''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contadina in corte. La Italian-language operas Operas by Antonio Sacchini Opera buffa Operas 1765 operas