(' The Maid turn'd Mistress
Libretto by G. A. FEDERICO
Composed by PERGOLESI
THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA
Conducted by ARTHUR BLISS
SEVENTEENTH - CENTURY Italians liked variety in their evenings at the Opera. Between the Acts of the serious works were placed slighter, humorous pieces, termed ' Intermezzi.' La Serva Padrona (The Maid turned Mistress) is such a piece. It was first performed in 1733, on a gala evening in Naples, when the birthday of the Empress Christina was celebrated.
The plot is very simple. The gloomy old
Uberto, tired of quarrelling with his wilful servant girl Serpina, decides to marry someone. Serpina thinks she would like to be his wife, and disguises the serving-man Vespone (who never gets a word in edgeways), pretending that he is a ferocious fellow and that she is going to marry him. Poor Uberto, partly afraid and partly sorry for Sorpina, agrees to marry her himself ; then the truth is disclosed, and all ends happily.
Apparently, composition did not bring Pergolosi much prosperity, for when he died in 1736, at the age of twenty-six, his few possessions had to be sold to pay the expenses of his funeral.