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 and is regarded as both
La Lodoiska a ballet of the same name choreographed by Lorenzo Panzieri, which premiered at La Fenice in January 1797, and the opera itself was revived at La Fenice in November of that year. On 4 November 1798 it had its first performance at the Teatro Real de São Carlos in Lisbon in celebration of the name day of Carlota Joaquina of Spain. Mayr then revised the opera to a two-act version which nevertheless had more musical numbers than the original three-act version. The new version premiered at La Scala on 26 December 1799. It was Mayr's first opera to be performed