To the Origins of the Venice Opera Buffa: Palomba’s "La Maestra" and Goldoni’s "La scuola moderna o sia la maestra di buon gusto"

Abstract

La maestra (Naples 1747 with text by A. Palomba and music by G. Cocchi) restaged in Venice (1748) was a first meeting Goldoni’s with a new genre of musical comedy. Goldoni modified basically original text and it gives rise to look closely at controversies around his creative style: collisions between his riforma and controriforma trends, between satire and didactics, realism and idealization. This case demonstrates also delicate distinctions in his approach to literary comedies and libretto dependent on his rating of both genres.