The genre of 'farsa,' like L'inganno felice, was a one-act opera used as a 'filler' between acts of a serious opera, though by Rossini's time this origin was almost lost.
Recording & Production
This recording of L'inganno felice was made live at the re-opening of the Königliches Kurtheater in Bad Wildbad, Germany, in July 2005.
Critical Reception
L'inganno felice was a huge success at its 1812 premiere, with the public enthusiastic from start to finish and critics praising the music.
Composition History
Rossini composed L'inganno felice, his third opera, for the 1811/12 carnival season in Venice, having little time to write it after his previous opera's premiere.
Performer Biography
Alberto Zedda, the conductor of this recording, is an expert on Rossini, known for revising the score of Il barbiere di Siviglia from the autograph and marking the beginning of modern Rossini scholarship.
Compositional Technique
L'inganno felice is a 'semiseria' opera, a genre representing bourgeois melodrama or rescue opera where an innocent person is saved at the last minute.
Critical Reception
Despite its initial popularity, L'inganno felice became Rossini's least performed farsa in the 20th century, a neglect attributed to a lack of engagement with the semiseria genre.
