This perfect exposition presented Mozart with three classic buffo roles - an amorous old man, a wily maid and a handsome young gardener. The Cavaliere offers a "serious" role + la opera seria. And a female gardener who is "finta", in other words a fake,is a "mezzo carattere" - the title given in opera buffa to roles that are allowed to alternate between the comic and the serious, between sentimentality and drama. But Mozart takes even the heartaches of his "comic" characters remarkably seriously, and with its clever changes between major and minor keys, this introductory scene is anything but clich+d.
