ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries, Joseph Haydn's operas were completely overshadowed by those of his younger contemporary, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Il mondo della luna was designated by Haydn as a dramma giocoso. This was once thought to be an expression no more specific than "comic opera," for the term appears frequently on comic scores and librettos of the late eighteenth century. Il mondo della luna deviates slightly from these conventions, and this, perhaps coupled with the memory of Haydn's earlier treatment of Lo speziale, prompted Georg Feder to view Il mondo della luna as a kind of hybrid. In particular, it is Haydn's inclusion of serious characters in the second act finale that stands out as a departure from earlier practice. The earliest printed edition of Goldoni's libretto and a Venetian revision of 1775 which Haydn certainly knew are compared with the composite text actually set by Haydn.
