nal Barberini as early as 1639. The poet
Milton was present at this performance, and refers to it in one of his
_Epistolae Familiares_. In 1657 a theatre was actually built in Florence
for the performance of musical comedies. For some reason, however, it
did not prove a success, and after a few years was compelled to close
its doors. After these first experiments there seems to have been no
attempt made to resuscitate opera buffa until the rise of the Neapolitan
school in the following century. The genesis of the southern branch of
opera buffa may with certainty be traced to the intermezzi, or musical
interludes, which were introduced into the course of operas and dramas,
probably with the object of relieving the mental strain induced by the
effort of following a long serious performance. The popularity of these
intermezzi throws a curious light upon the character of Italian
audiences at that time. We should think it strange if an audience
nowadays refused to sit through 'Hamlet' unless it were diversified by
occasional scenes from 'Box and Cox.' As time went on, the proportions
and general character of these intermezzi acquired greater importance,
but it was not until the eighteenth century was well advanced that one
of them was promoted to the rank of an independent opera, and, instead
of being performed in scraps between the acts of a tragedy, was given
for the first time as a separate work. This honour was accorded to
Pergolesi's 'La Serva Padrona,' in 1734, and the great success which it
met with everywhere soon caused numberless imitations to spring up, so
that in a few years opera buffa in Italy was launched upon a career of
triumph.

Founded as it was in avowed imitation of the tragedy of the Greeks,
opera had never deigned to touch modern life at any point. For a long
time the subjects of Italian operas were taken solely from classical
legend, and though in time librettists were compelled to have recourse
to the medieval romances, they never ventured out of an antiquity more
or less remote. Thus it is easy to conceive the delight of the
music-loving people of Naples when they found that the opera which they
adored could be enjoyed in combination with a mirthful and even farcical
story, interpreted by characters who might have stepped out of one of
their own market-places. But, apart from the freedom and variety of the
subjects with which it dealt, the development of opera buffa gave rise
to an art-form which is