L'opera comica napoletana (1700-1750), by Filomena Pascarella

Born in the early eighteenth century in Naples, the musical comedy was characterized by some specific points, first of all the frequent use of the Neapolitan dialect, which, it was not the simple adoption of a linguistic register, but also the use of clothes , environments, music, dances and show rhythms totally different from serious opera. The adoption of dialect, the Neapolitan language, of popular characters and scenographies, testified to the realistic vocation of this genre. The eighteenth-century Neapolitan comedy was also an artistic expression distinct from the interlude for complexity of the plant, in fact it stages from seven to nine characters and of structure extends in three acts. The characters can be both serious and funny and express themselves in different languages: the serious characters, belonging to the bourgeoisie of the city express themselves in the Tuscan language and sing in a style similar to that of the serious opera while the funny characters of plebeian extraction perform in easy melodic songs often with Neapolitan texts.