Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (January 4, 1710 – March 16, 1736) was an Italian composer, violinist and organist. Pergolesi was born in Jesi, Italy, where he studied music under Francesco Santini there before going to Naples in 1725 where he studied under Gaetano Greco among others. He spent most of his life working in Neapolitan courts. Pergolesi was one of the most important early composers of opera buffa (comic opera). His opera seria Il prigioner superbo contained the two act buffa intermezzo, La Serva Padrona (The Landlady Servant, 1733), which became a very popular work in its own right.

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