| La canterina | |
|---|---|
| Opera buffa by Joseph Haydn | |
 Portrait of the composer by Thomas Hardy, in 1791 | |
| Language | Italian |
| Premiere | 1766 |
La canterina (The Songstress or The Diva), Hob. XXVIII/2, is a short, two-act opera buffa by Joseph Haydn, the first one he wrote for Prince Esterhazy. Based on the intermezzo from the third act of Niccolò Piccinni's opera L'Origille (1760), it lasts about 50 minutes. It was written in 1766, and was premiered in the summer of that year.[1]
It was originally intended as a pair of intermezzi, each of the two acts coming between the acts of an opera seria. Similar works include La serva padrona by Pergolesi and Pimpinone by Telemann.
- ^ 'Haydn, (Franz) Joseph' in Grove Music, Georg Feder and James Webster, 2001