Opera buffa (Italian for "comic opera") is a genre that emerged in Naples during the early 18th century, offering a lighter, more accessible alternative to the serious opera seria. It featured everyday settings, local dialects, and simpler vocal writing, often depicting common people and their problems and drawing from commedia dell'arte, making it highly relatable to a broad audience.
Initially appearing as short intermezzi performed between acts of serious operas, the genre grew into full-length works, exemplified by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's influential La serva padrona (1733). Its golden age saw significant contributions from librettist Carlo Goldoni and composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (especially his collaborations with Da Ponte), Gioachino Rossini, and Gaetano Donizetti. While its defined run concluded around 1850 with works such as Crispino e la comare, the term "opéra bouffon" was also adopted in 18th-century France for similar comic works, notably by Jacques Offenbach for his later operettas.