About the work
Pimpinone oder Die ungleiche Heirat is a comic intermezzo in three parts by Georg Philipp Telemann to a German libretto by Johann Philipp Praetorius, based on Pietro Pariati's Italian text for Tomaso Albinoni's opera of the same name. It premiered on 27 September 1725 at the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt, inserted between the acts of Telemann's adaptation of Handel's "Tamerlano" for the wedding celebrations of Louis XV.
Plot
The chambermaid Vespetta persuades the wealthy, ageing bachelor Pimpinone to marry her. No sooner is the marriage concluded than she turns the tables and rules over him, until the couple end in open quarrel and Vespetta warns the audience against marriage.
Cultural significance
Alternating Italian da capo arias with German recitatives, Pimpinone anticipates opera's turn from mythological subjects to everyday comedy and is considered a forerunner of opera buffa, including Pergolesi's "La serva padrona."