The term ''festa teatrale'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: , plural: ''feste teatrali'' ) refers to a genre of

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

, and of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

in particular. The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case ''feste teatrali'' tend to be split into two different sets: ''feste teatrali'' divided by acts are operas, while works in this genre performed without division, or merely cut into two parts, are

serenata In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italia ...

s. A ''festa teatrale'' is a dramatic work, performed on stage (unlike many serenatas, which are labelled ''drammatico'' but were not performed in dramatic contexts). The ''festa teatrale'' was always a fairly minor genre, born of courtly entertainments and the celebration of royalty – hence the abbreviated length of most ''festi teatrale'', and the focus on drama, spectacle and chorus, as opposed to elaborate music. The poet and

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...

applied the term to 9 of his libretti. All but one of these were first performed for the court at Vienna. The last of these was

Johann Adolph Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

's ''Partenope'', performed during 1767. Christoph Willibald Gluck's '' Orfeo ed Euridice'', the first of his "reform operas" (also first seen at Vienna), is also often considered part of the genre of ''festa teatrale''. Handel's Parnasso in Festa, presented in London in 1734 as part of the celebrations for the wedding of

Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...

, is another example of the genre. The genre does not seem to have survived after Metastasio, though it had been in existence for over a century – Francesco Cavalli wrote ''feste teatrali'', among many other early composers.

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{{Opera genres Opera genres European court festivities Italian words and phrases

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