La serva padrona was performed by an itinerant Italian troupe of comic actors, known as buffoni (bouffons in French, hence the name of the quarrel).
In the controversy that followed, critics such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Friedrich Melchior Grimm, along with other writers associated with the Encyclopédie, praised Italian opera buffa.
It was against this background that the arrival, in 1752, of La serva padrona at the Royal Academy of Music triggered a culture war among Parisian intelligentsia.
The quarrel broke out on August 1, 1752, when Eustacchio Bambini's Italian touring company arrived in Paris to give performances of intermezzi and opera buffa.
It was similar to the light opera being performed by the bouffons, but no one at court was shocked, possibly because Madame de Pompadour herself played the role of Colin.
In particular, the Comédie-Italienne and Théâtre de la foire developed a new type of opera that combined the natural simplicity of the Italian style with the harmonic richness of French tragédie en musique.