opera buffa

American  

[op-er-uh boo-fuh, op-ruh, aw-pe-rah boof-fah] / ˈɒp ər ə ˈbu fə, ˈɒp rə, ˈɔ pɛ rɑ ˈbuf fɑ /

noun

opera buffas, plural operas buffa, plural opere buffe plural

1. an Italian farcical comic opera originating in the 18th century and containing recitativo secco, patter songs, and ensemble finales.

2. the operatic genre comprising such works.

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opera buffa British  

/ ˈbuːfə, ˈopera ˈbuffa /

noun

1. comic opera, esp that originating in Italy during the 18th century

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• opera buffas
  plural
• operas buffa
  plural
• opere buffe
  plural

Etymology

Origin of opera buffa

Borrowed into English from Italian around 1795–1805

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

opera buffa

Felice Romani’s libretto also has an unusual—rather meta—construction: It includes a poet who is trying to write an opera buffa and narrates the events, a nod to Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

This obscure and hilariously outrageous takeoff on the genre of Italian opera buffa, written in 1846, turned out to be the hit of the weekend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2024

For Currentzis, the work’s female characters reflect different styles of female singer: Donna Anna, for example, seems to have arrived from an opera seria and Zerlina, a peasant girl, from an opera buffa.

From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2021

It has more in common with Mozart’s opera buffa than with “Days of Our Lives.”

From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2015

The other men who devoted themselves to opera buffa during this period my be briefly dismissed.

From The Opera A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory. by Fuller-Maitland, J. A.