Continuity and transformation in Neapolitan «commedia per musica»: from Piccinni’s «Gelosia per gelosia» (1770) to Paisiello and Palma’s «Le vane gelosie» (1790)

Abstract

The essay examines Piccinni’s "Gelosia per gelosia", which had its debut in 1770, and "Le vane gelosie", composed exactly twenty years later by Giovanni Paisiello in collaboration with his pupil Silvestro Palma. The 1790 libretto was a revamped version of the text set to music by Piccinni, the poet himself, Giambattista Lorenzi, being responsible for the revision. Moreover, the two operas have one singer in common, the basso Antonio Casaccia, in the role of Trifone. This case study, therefore, provides a valuable opportunity to compare two different stages in the history of Neapolitan "commedia per musica".