Opéra bouffon

Opéra bouffon is the French term for the Italian genre of opera buffa (comic opera) performed in 18th-century France, either in the original language or in French translation. It was also applied to original French opéras comiques having Italianate or near-farcical plots.^[1]

The term was also later used by Jacques Offenbach for five of his operettas (Orphée aux enfers, Le pont des soupirs, Geneviève de Brabant, Le roman comique [fr] and Le voyage de MM. Dunanan père et fils^[2]), and is sometimes confused with the French opéra comique and opéra bouffe.^[3]

Notes

1. Bartlet, M. Elizabeth C. (2001). "Opéra bouffon (Fr.)". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.43699. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
2. Le voyage de MM. Dunanan père et fils (Offenbach): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
3. Notably André-Guillaume Contant d'Orville [fr] (Histoire de l'opéra bouffon, Amsterdam 1768, Vol. I and Vol. II) used the term as a synonym for opéra comique (Bartlet).