Intermezzo (opera)

Intermezzo (also: Intermedium , Intermedio , Intermède : lat./ital./franz. 'Interlude') was the name of the dance-musical inter-act entertainments that arose in Italy at the end of the 16th century during performances of courtly plays and operas . - One uses the more generally Term intermezzo for an unexpected, comical incident.

Early form of the opera buffa

The oldest intermediates were simple madrigals ; they were also temporarily replaced by instrumental presentations. In the French tradition, the ballet divertissement took the place of the intermezzo.

The scenic interludes were found as loosening components between the acts of a tragedy. Initially they were not related to each other, but each dealt with a different (mythological) topic. Gradually, however, a more or less joking second act developed from them. The Intermezzi belong to the genre of comedy in terms of plot and personalities , while the main plot belongs to that of tragedy . One such intermezzo was Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's La serva padrona (1733).

The next step was the separation of this independent, joking little opera from the serious larger opera, which resulted in the opera buffa . With the Intermède Le devin du village (1752), Jean-Jacques Rousseau composed a model for the modern Opéra comique .

A dance intermezzo was usually called divertissement .

Intermezzo is also the title of an opera by Richard Strauss (1924) that refers to the genesis of Opera buffa.

Between act music

In Italian opera and drama since the 19th century, the term intermezzo has been synonymous with the German interlude or the French entr'acte and describes an orchestral transition between two acts or images.

In the 19th century, intermezzo was also used as a term for musical character pieces , for example by Johannes Brahms , see Intermezzo (instrumental music) . Such character pieces often served as entractes in the drama.