The comic operatic intermezzo sometimes seems to have sprung into being fully developed with Pergolesi's sparkling La Serva Padrona in the 1720s, but the practice of inserting a little comic scene between the acts of a serious work went back to the early days of opera and even before. This Hungarian release brings together a pair of intermezzi by Alessandro Scarlatti that have completely vanished from view. Neither is on the level of La Serva Padrona; Pericca e Varrone drags the flirtation out a bit too long, while Leonzio ...
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The comic operatic intermezzo sometimes seems to have sprung into being fully developed with Pergolesi's sparkling La Serva Padrona in the 1720s, but the practice of inserting a little comic scene between the acts of a serious work went back to the early days of opera and even before. This Hungarian release brings together a pair of intermezzi by Alessandro Scarlatti that have completely vanished from view. Neither is on the level of La Serva Padrona; Pericca e Varrone drags the flirtation out a bit too long, while Leonzio ed Eurilla cuts it off with a sharp ending that doesn't quite come off (situation comedies, from Seinfeld on back in time, don't do bitterness well). But the comedy in both comes through three centuries pretty much intact, and the disc as a whole suggests that this almost unknown genre is worth further investigation. These intermezzi, as well as others in the genre, are for just two singers (which by itself ought to commend the intermezzo to college voice departments and the like)....
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