Armida Immaginaria is a brilliant spoof on the verses from Gerusalemme Liberata by Torquato Tasso about the sorceress Armida. Armida is a topic usually reserved for the serious theater. It was turned into countless grand operas full of spectacle and scenic effects, for it concerns a powerful sorceress who falls in love with the valiant knight Rinaldo. He deserts her and she goes mad, eventually losing all her powers and being destroyed. The libretto for the Cimarosa comedy was penned by Giuseppe Palomba, an extremely prolific author of opera libretti and favored poet of Cimarosa. The story has as its setting a seashore with a tavern next to the local insane asylum. One of the patients thinks she is Tasso's Armida. The libretto makes use of actual verses from Tasso which are quoted by the characters at length. The poem was well known to Cimarosa's audience, who would have identified with the satirical aspect of the play and appreciated its wit. The libretto is filled with humor aimed at the contemporary eighteenth century urban dwellers of Cimarosa's day, also. Almost all of the people who attended the opera buffo were members of the wealthier classes, if not of the nobility. But the French revolution was at hand, and comic situations which contrasted the aristocracy with the bourgeoisie and the lower classes are everywhere in evidence. There are plenty of satirical barbs leveled at the nobility, and plenty of broader humor pokes fun at the foibles of the middle classes. The lower classes are buffo characters and speak in Neapolitan dialect, while the members of the nobility speak in a more refined Italian. There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot which provide Cimarosa with space for music and room to develop comic situations. The action is quickly paced throughout, and the secco recitative that joins the different numbers is melodic and engaging. But most of all, this comedy is entertaining, and the recitative allows the dialogue of the characters to be understood so that Cimarosa's audience could "get" all of the jokes. The opera was premiered at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in the summer of 1777, to public and critical acclaim.

Cimarosa was the leading composer of opere buffe of his time. He was both a contemporary of Mozart and an inspiration to Rossini who came after him. His operas were extremely popular with the public because of their melodious charm, their transparent harmonies, and their sparkle and wit. Although he was eclipsed by Rossini and Mozart after his death, his operas began to be revived in the twentieth century to an appreciative audience who found the sheer delightfulness of his music and the liveliness of his humor refreshing. Cimarosa was known for his vocal ensembles which are interspersed throughout his operas for a livelier dramatic feel. Armida Immarinaria contains several vocal ensembles as well as arias and solo set pieces, and a chorus. The opera opens with an inventive overture in one movement, which leads into an introductory tableau that sets the stage for the story, and introduces us to the insane asylum. One of the highlights of the first act is Tisbea's aria "Un foco cosi bello," in which she sings of her love and passion for the bankrupt pirate Spatachiatta. Long breathed phrases of lyrical beauty and expressive roulades build into a grand aria of epic emotions. Tender string figures and harpsichord accompaniments are joined by flutes and horns. The aria ends with passionate vocal virtuosics, as the confused Marchesa invites the profligate pirate to return her love for him.

© Rita Laurance, All Music Guide