La serva padrona

Composed as a musical palate cleanser—a light-hearted intermezzo to be performed between the acts of a more substantial work—Pergolesi’s La serva padrona (1733) has since become very much a main event: for many, the perfect comic opera. The plot of this slender three-hander—less than an hour long—turns on the shifting power-dynamics between Uberto and his rebellious servant Serpina, who plots to marry her master and go from maid to mistress. But when they both fall in love, it’s wedding bells and a happy ending for all. The characters―the clever servant, the wealthy, blustering master―are stock figures, straight from commedia dell’arte central casting. The work’s very original appeal lies in the grace of Pergolesi’s music: featherlight elegance, sensitive to every shifting breeze of mood or character, and the wit that breaks through at every moment. You can hear the twinkle in the music’s eye, the barely suppressed grin in every bar. Deliciously pretty and high-spirited, La serva padrona is a slight work that had surprisingly serious impact on opera’s evolution. The work’s solid success—performed regularly for two decades after its Naples premiere—tipped over into something more significant in 1752. A staging in Paris was a turning point in French musical history, establishing Italian-style comic opera as a rival and new alternative to traditional tragic forms. Without Pergolesi, we might never have had Bizet or Offenbach.