Buovo d'Antona is an Italian-language dramma giocoso opera in three acts by Tommaso Traetta, on a libretto by Carlo Goldoni based on the Bevis of Hampton chivalric tale, which premiered at the Teatro San Moisè, Venice on 27 December 1758.
[1] The opera was well received and staged in Bologna, Turin, Verona, Palma, Barcelona, Seville and finally Dresden in 1772.
[2] Antonio Zatta's Venetian edition of Goldoni's plays (1788–95) gives "1750" as the date for a Florence premiere of the opera, but this is now thought to be a mistake.
The basic story of the return to Antona from exile of the knight Buovo (tenor) to reclaim his estates and his beloved Drusiana (contralto) from the usurper Maccabruno (soprano en travesti) remains.
Traetta responded to the conventional division of heroic and comic characters in Goldoni's libretto with music suitable for opera seria for the noble couple, Buovo and Drusiana - then Buovo and Menichina, such as ABA da capo arias, and with more lightweight AABB arias for the non-noble couple, Striglia and Cecchina, and the other buffo roles.