Opera semiseria opera seria and opera semiseria. Opera semiseria Opera semiseria ('semi-serious opera') is an Italian genre of opera, popular in the early and middle 19th century. Related to the opera buffa, opera semiseria contains elements of comedy but also of pathos, sometimes with a pastoral setting. It can usually be distinguished from tragic operas or melodramas by the presence of a basso buffo. One of the better-known examples is Gaetano Donizetti's "Linda di Chamounix". Another example is Gioacchino Rossini's "La gazza ladra". Vincenzo Bellini's "La sonnambula" has all the characteristics of the genre except the presence of the required basso buffo
La straniera new style and its restless harmonic shifts into remote keys did not please all. 45 years later it was stated that "Bellini's style was abstruse, discontinuous, distorted, and lacking in distinction, that it alternated among the "serio" and the "buffo" and the "semi-serio"." 19th century performances The opera was first performed at La Scala, Milan on 14 February 1829, with Henriette Méric-Lalande and Domenico Reina in the leading roles. Alessandro Sanquirico, the well-established set designer of the time, designed the sets, and the opera was presented on a triple bill, along with the ballets "Buondelmonte" and "L'avviso ai maritati". Within